Honky Tonk "World Champion" IPA

This brewery has a quirky, potentially off-putting, and down-to-earth name. I'll admit that I was apprehensive when I got my first beer from them, but my fears were unwarranted, and every beer since then has been great except for one - which was excellent! So, it is with that new experience that I embrace this new IPA. I'm a fan, in case you weren't keeping track.

The very pale, hazy, and yellow beer produces a splotchy head that leaves enough lacing to re-enforce that this is an IPA. It needs this confidence booster with the 4.0% ABV. This is not where I expect to find my IPAs these days, but I guess taste is really where the rubber hits the road with beers, and I can't judge based on Alcohol. The aroma will help out more than that number, and it is laden with citrus fruits galore, and I'm not going to take extra time. I'm going to sip. 

First sip is lemons, bread, grapefruit, and something unexpected. Is that dankness? No, I don't think so. Funk? Well, I guess I could default to funk if I had to, but it's like a huge fruit pit or something that has a smear of tart and sweet on it, but that doesn't overcome the off-textured ... cherry pit? Maybe.

Tip-in is lemon zest with carbonation fire and a lowly bread base that is barely there. The middle swings in with a very nice, somewhat dry bread bowl with lemons, oranges, and grapefruit zest doing a very good impression of a beer. The finish is a disappointment with the peach pit (no, still not quite right) surrounded by a tart and bitter slime.

Bottom Line: Honestly, not the worst.

1.75/5