Bearded Iris "Joy Ride" IPA

I imagine a scene in a hotspot around downtown Nashville where craft beers are sold. One of the brewers from Bearded Iris is enjoying one of his beers when someone strikes up a conversation with him. When they learn that he works for Bearded Iris, they automatically ask him the same tired question he's received dozens of times since he entered the bar, "Do you guys make anything other than IPAs?" It seems somewhat ironic that the brewery that makes almost exclusively India Pale Ales has a tagline "cultivate variety."

The presentation is exactly what you would expect from any Bearded Iris brew. It is a relatively unfiltered, dense beer with with a hue reminiscent of a mixture of tropical and citrus juices with orange being primary among them. The head was pretty significant when I first poured, but now it looks like a thin layer of pulp on top of the juice. The aroma is pretty faint, but it is laden with oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, and tartness that can be smelled.

First sip is very good, but it is a bit mild. The beer is a little watery, and the very good tastes that are there really aren't asserting themselves well enough. That's not to say I didn't like the sip, but the beer could be better designed if sipping was the intent. Of course, we don't typically sip for very long around here.

Tip-in is moderate carbonation burn with grapefruit and its associated tartness up front while orange, tangerine, and mango fill in the spots underneath. If there's a malt, I'm not tasting it yet. The middle is very smooth; it's not watery like I had feared, instead the smooth juices flow easily down the gullet. The finish is where the tartness rises up and encounters some bitterness on the way. The juices fade away while the malt barely shows its head above the din.

Bottom Line: Another very good beer from a very good brewer.

3.25/5