The honey gold beer has a healthy, sticky head that is slightly off white. It is the king of sticky that results in patchy lacing that should be hung in the Guggenheim. The aroma is floury dough and bright citrus hops, and it makes a normal men weak at the knees (assuming that normal man is me, and - this particular time - it is).First sip is very nice. At first, my thought was crisp, but that was only the beginning of the beer. The after-effect of the beer is much more lingering and kind of malty-citrusy than a beer that I would think of as crisp, but I don't know whatever the technical term for it is, so I will go with malty-citrusy. If that becomes a thing, let it be known that I used it first.
Tip-in is very light carbonation tingle with oranges and mangoes in the front while the dough is starting to rise into bread toward the back. As the middle takes over, the flavors intensify with a bitterness that is trying, but it is kept well at bay by the malt, which doesn't over-sweeten. The malts taste like they are corn bread now, and the hops are just singing out to anyone who will listen. It's a very nice middle. The finish is a sharp downturn of everything, but there is a rise of spices and pine hops before the trail off of dusty malt and discoing hops.
Bottom Line: Cheesy label, but a very good West Coast IPA.
4.25/5
