
First sip is much more malty than I expected. It's not that the hops aren't enjoying themselves in the bath of water and malt, but the malt is much sweeter and kinder than most IPAs would deliver. The malt's sweetness removes all trace of bitterness from the hops, so the result is one of the smoothest IPAs I think I may ever have had. I hope this translates into the swig. If so, I may have found the Guinness of IPAs (not like that crappy Guinness IPA).
Tip-in is very gentle carbonation burn with malt sweetness, grains, and light pine and floral hops. The middle swings on in with a somewhat sudden carbonation and spiky hop burning on the roof of the mouth with the malt tamping everything down around the tongue so that caramel can mix with the pine and floral notes to swirl a very good, but not gentle, taste. The finish is a surge of hops over everything else to the point that bitterness is the prime taste in the trail-off.
Bottom Line: The best beer I've had from Utah, and a really good IPA.
4.0/5