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Sometimes beautiful things start with a multi-pack. I've had plenty of Sierra Nevada beers, and I think I can have properly placed confidence in all of these being pretty good. I don't expect any of them are going to be particularly outstanding, but what I need right now is a solid run of IPAs. I was slowly starting to convince myself that multi-packs were just what bad beverage manufacturers produced in order to get more things sold. However, good breweries can put out good beers in multi packs. That is my supposition, and I intend to prove it.
The straw yellow beer has a white head of miniscule bubbles that dies down to a complete cover across the beer that is interestingly even, except for the ring around the sides. These cold IPAs tend to have a more muted flavor profile, and that is coming across in the scent. I really have to get deep down inside this glass in order to tell that there are tropical fruits waiting for me at the bottom. Are there citrus? Probably. I can't really tell, as I am struggling just to pick up the fruits. I still am unclear as to whether or not the cold fermentation process that these cold IPAs use is supposed to make them taste better, tamp down the taste, add to the ABV, or just be cheaper to manufacture. I can't imagine it's cheaper to manufacture, but I really don't know what the draw is supposed to be.
First sip has a lot stronger of a flavor than the aroma indicated. There are loads of fruits that hit up front very quickly. I think I can appropriately call the back end crisp, and maybe that's what the cold IPAs are bringing to the table, because this is way more crisp of a snap at the end then I'm used to. The fruits are kind of a jumbled mess, but they're just so many of them that it's hard to discern one from the next. It's like a fruit smoothie where they used too many fruits. But, swigs normally let me hash these things out a little better.
Tip-in is surprisingly bitter with grapefruit, mango, orange, and star fruit all mushed together in an inelegant way. The bitterness subsides as the center approaches with all the aforementioned fruits in a more orderly slurry that flows down the gullet with an ease and smoothness that belies the bitterness that the drink started with. The finish is a crisp snap where the fruits all run away quickly to be replaced by bitterness that lays on the tongue as the only remnants of the beer left for the trail off.
Bottom Line: If this is the worst of the bunch, this is going to be a good pack.
3.25/5
