It’s Friday night, we’re a week into October, and we’re going for a Hazy/IPA beer tasting! Tonight’s beers are four arbitrarily selected brews from four different breweries!
So…get your favorite beverage, curl up on your couch or favorite chair, kick back, and join us for our Hazy/IPA tasting!
Our first beer is…
BEER: Big Daddy IPA
BREWERY: Speakeasy Lagers & Ales – San Francisco, CA
ABV: 6.5%
MATT: 4/5
DANIELLE: 3.5/5
LOOK: Light amber, foggy with a slowly dissolving head.
SCENT: Pine, orange citrus, some pineapple, and some cream
MOUTHFEEL/TASTE: Slightly thick mouthfeel. You get a lot of hops and citrus and it’s almost a cream finish as well.
FINAL REFLECTIONS:
I loved the citrus/cream flavor to this and it’s nicely balanced by the pine hops on the back end. Danielle didn’t love it as much and says that’s a little more bitter than she could stand.
BEER: Hazy Little Thing IPA
BREWERY: Sierra Nevada Brewing – Chico, CA
ABV: 6.7%
MATT: 4/5
DANIELLE: 4/5
LOOK: Gold and foggy
SCENT: Heavy citrus, orange peel
MOUTHFEEL/TASTE: While you can smell and taste the pine, the beer isn’t as bitter as you’re expecting. It’s nice and light (with a thick mouthfeel) and comes off as a bit of a Belgian-type ale or Shandy without the lemon.
FINAL REFLECTIONS:
This was incredibly refreshing. Danielle and I loved how good this was going down. The lack of bitterness makes it enjoyable at a party and it would go great with tacos.
BEER: Hazy Wonder IPA
BREWERY: Lagunitas Brewing Company – Petaluma, CA
ABV: 8.2%
MATT: 3.75/5
DANIELLE: 3.75/5
LOOK: Light Gold and hazy
SCENT: Citrus, cream, vanilla with pine hops that are very subtle.
MOUTHFEEL/TASTE: Thick mouthfeel. While you can get a lot of sweetness on the nose, there isn’t a whole lot of sweetness to be had on the tongue. It has some lemon citrus to it along with hops on the back end. It goes down dry.
FINAL REFLECTIONS:
A decent IPA for us both — but it’s the dryness factor which does it in.
BEER: Space Dust IPA
BREWERY: Elysian Brewing Company – Seattle, WA
ABV: 8.2%
MATT: 4/5
DANIELLE: 3.5/5
LOOK: Light amber, and hazy
SCENT: Some citrus, some cream, some hops
MOUTHFEEL/TASTE: Thick mouthfeel. You can taste the alcohol. Heavy hops as well. Better flavor on this than the last one. VERY dry finish.
FINAL REFLECTIONS:
I have happy memories of having this beer almost every day after work while relaxing at a local pizza joint. This is just a really good IPA with a lot of flavor and character to it. Danielle is not happy with the bitterness or the dry finish on it.
FINAL REFLECTIONS:
This was a good, fun tasting. Every single beer was pretty solid stuff. Not a bad one in the bunch. Beer of the tasting for me was “Big Daddy”. Danielle’s was “Hazy Little Thing” by Sierra Nevada. Here’s more of our thoughts:
COMING UP NEXT WEEK: To be announced…