Short's "Huma Lupa Licious" IPA

The second beer in my Short's experience. The first one was a great beer, and it was ALSO an IPA. As I make it a habit to not do a bunch of research or anything that might change my relatively subjective review of the beer, I have no idea if they make anything that isn't an IPA. I have to assume they do, but, like Bearded Iris, they may have made a cursory attempt at non-IPAs and then hit the IPAs hard.

The golden beer is murky in its depths, but it is a consistent haze rather than the conglomeration of small to medium sized chunks that you occasionally see floating in other beers that label themselves hazy. The head burst forth pretty significantly from the can as soon as I opened it, and the sticky head of medium to small bubbles is leaving quite a bit of lacing on the sides of the glass that makes the top, from the top down, resemble nothing so much as the corona from the sun. The aroma is somewhat tropical and a little floral.

First sip is surprisingly dry with bitterness intermingled in it. It certainly seems like a solid beer, but the aftereffects of hops are more dramatic than the flavor of the hops themselves. The caramel malt even appears to be asserting itself in a more defined way then the hops can manage. It's not bad right out of the gate, but I can't say it's my favorite already.

Tip-in is flowers and tropical fruit rinds with caramel malt pushing it all forward and carbonation nothing more than a distant hum. The middle gets surprisingly sweet with the carbonation starting to sear around the outside while the fruits and flowers are relegated to a background chorus. The finish is where the dryness comes up with its magic wand that trails bitterness and declares the beverage finished.

Bottom Line: For a particularly complex mood, this might fit the bill.

3.0/5