Profiled by Maria Devan for PGA
Thank you Nathan Warman
Pours brick orange with a soft golden hue and a thin head of khaki foam that fell quickly and left a bit of a ring and some slippery lace as it drank.
Nose is a blast of dank herbal, tropical mango and sexy caramel. There’s some sweet earth underneath it all and some citric tartness on top. There’s even a moment of peppery spice before you discover the earthy Christmas tree pine.
Taste is intense. Firm malt lays down deliberately and fully on the palate creating a sweet canvas for an eminent ripe mango with a splash of grapefruit. The herbal is pungent and leafy and the pine is earthy and steadfast. All these flavors roil and roll, reaching their individual peaks while the malt stands firm and unmoving. In fact it creeps forward with a bit more earth to remind you that Armageddon is coming. Then it strikes! The bitter. It’s a stronger hop bitter than it actually seems because of the staunch malt and it lasts well into the finish with some stickiness and a bit of resin to coat the throat and leave a lingering caramel in the aftertaste. The fruit has been removed from you and this is the end of time.
This beer is not what I was expecting. It is the definition of intense. For an DIPA it is truly complex and that is rare. Layered, lasting, urgent, forceful. This is no shy beer. I love it!
4.5
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 Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is frequent reviewer of beer and a beer lover deluxe.