O/O: 50/50 Enigma- Nelson Sauvin (Sweden: IPA: 6.5% ABV)
Visual: Dark apricot. Large mounded yellowed head that leaves suds.
Nose: Wheat. Apricot. Lightly tart. Grapefruit. Melon. Light hop bitterness. Flour.
Body: Lightly creamy meets oily feel. Hop oils. Bitterness. Soft peach. Light custard. Moderate thickness to the mouthfeel. Grapefruit. Light tart grapes. Flour.
Finish: Oily bitterness. Good hop oils. Light resin. Grapefruit. Palma violets. Soft peach. Gherkin. Malt toffee.
Conclusion: This is a much more balanced beer than I expected. With it being 50% Nelson Sauvin hopped I was expecting a level of tart grapefruit hop punch that would rock the house down.
Maybe I was underestimating the Enigma hop.
Anyway, instead, as much as this does use, and indeed rock, those grapefruit Nelson Sauvin notes, this is a much more complex and with it rewarding IPA than if it just threw the tart fruit notes at you alone. It has a cloudy look and a slightly creamy thick feel that calls to New England IPAs, but much to my delight flavour-wise it leans heavily into the hop character giving thick, hop oil led, slightly resinous, and solidly if net excessively used bitterness. My kind of IPA. The base shouts out the IPA character in just a mildly … *sigh * I’ll say it.. dank style.
There is solid sweet fruitiness as well, expressed as peach and apricot, which, when paired with hints of the malt influence showing custard sweetness, manages to balance the flavor out nicely. So, they have managed to balance the hops pretty much 50/50 as they promised, and make them the lead for the beer. The malt flavours are gentle backing vanilla toffee and such, but its main effect is to give enough mouthfeel – and in that it more than does its job.
A beer that gives a very solid showing to both hops, uses malt well, and generally manages to use hop character, resin and hop oils well without them being overwhelming, which makes it all a very solid IPA indeed.
Background: O/O … I have no idea about that name. A quick google shows nothing. So, erm, anyway, grabbed this from Independent Spirit. Looked nice – simple but striking color scheme, I love Nelson Sauvin as a hop and Enigma is pretty solid, Sweden has a darn good craft beer scene, so,yeah, seemed a solid choice to pick. Not much else to add, put on varied Gogol Bordello tracks while drinking for some high energy tracks to add to the mood.
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