Happy New Beer Sunday!
Profiled by Maria Devan
You know how I have been known to say frequently and often that the IPA does not really pair well with food because it’s too bitter. Well I have also said that no beer will kindly go with spaghetti and tomato sauce. By some strange twist of fate I seem to have a beer that might just show ’em how to do both.
Pours lemon yellow with a tastefully slight haze. Creamy head of decadent off white foam that clings and falls slowly.
Nose is bright . Malt is a cracker with light honey and a firm hop herbal. Something very tropical. At first a softness, then more fruity and slight pepper from the hops. Citrusy.
Mouthfeel is brilliant and seems feather light. Well defined hop flavors. Citric , tropical and one of the most impressive hop herbals I have seen in an IPA. Bitterness is clean and powerful. Malt is fine and smooth. It lingers strong and because the mouthfeel is so light it finishes with the exactness of the hops. Pungency from dried herbs, the tickle from spice. A sparklingly clean finish and a precise dryness. The malt that seemed so elusive actually came perfectly round to end this beer as the bitterness faded.
This one has all the flavor of the most impeccable IPA and all the bitterness but somehow does not wreck my palate. The food pairings are endless with this beer. It’s like a lemon slice in a glass of water. It’s that versatile. I daresay I am going to buy it again and put it to the test with the spaghetti sauce.
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As it warms it sweetness only a little and shows me more lemon, a bit of malt.
Cheers to Victory this is a spectacular beer.
but remains crisp and cool.
4.2
Welcome to the PGA beer rating system: one beer “Don’t bother.” Two: Eh, if someone gives it to you, drink. Three: very good, go ahead and seek it out, but be aware there is at least one problem. Four: seek it out. Five: pretty much “perfecto.”
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Maria. There once was a beer judge, steward, beer writer, Ithaca living, hill walking up and down-er to her apartment, gal named MARIA!