Tonight's beer: Sierra Nevada Hoptimum
Citrus and pine explode across the palate, with thready impressions of grass, flowers, musk, melons, assorted tropical fruits (pineapples and others). Some pale bread in the background, with maybe a touch of caramel and toast, making for counterpoint, or maybe throwing all the bitterness into stark relief. Bitter from the beginning to the aftertaste; kinda unrelenting, that way (which isn't a complaint).
Kinda thick and soft, decently carbonated; not particularly heavy or dense. Scrubbing to the point of scouring, without being particularly clean or cleansing: There is *a lot* of resinous stickiness, here. Very little warning of the 10.4% ABV—just a gently warming glow.
So, this is what happens when one of the Great Old Ones of American craft brewing decides to make a double IPA: hops running rampant, some land and bready and syrupy sweetness struggling to keep the beer from falling over (or, alternatively, making for an interesing chiaroscuro). Crazy-intense, massively complex, definitely integrated but quite clearly not in the same galaxy as balanced. A marvelous wild ride of a sipping beer; delicious.
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| Sierra Nevada Hoptimum |
Citrus and pine explode across the palate, with thready impressions of grass, flowers, musk, melons, assorted tropical fruits (pineapples and others). Some pale bread in the background, with maybe a touch of caramel and toast, making for counterpoint, or maybe throwing all the bitterness into stark relief. Bitter from the beginning to the aftertaste; kinda unrelenting, that way (which isn't a complaint).
Kinda thick and soft, decently carbonated; not particularly heavy or dense. Scrubbing to the point of scouring, without being particularly clean or cleansing: There is *a lot* of resinous stickiness, here. Very little warning of the 10.4% ABV—just a gently warming glow.
So, this is what happens when one of the Great Old Ones of American craft brewing decides to make a double IPA: hops running rampant, some land and bready and syrupy sweetness struggling to keep the beer from falling over (or, alternatively, making for an interesing chiaroscuro). Crazy-intense, massively complex, definitely integrated but quite clearly not in the same galaxy as balanced. A marvelous wild ride of a sipping beer; delicious.
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