Overtone: IPA Comet/Waimea (Scotland: IPA: 6.3% ABV)
Visual: Hazy apricot with yellowed edges. Large mounded yellowed head.
Nose: Peach. Malt chocolate drinks. Hop prickle. Apricot. Lightly peppery. Milky coffee.
Body: Good bitterness. Greenery. Resin. Malt chocolate drinks. Prickly hop character. Apricot and dried apricot. Slight tart grapes. Palma violets. Slight custard.
Finish: Toffee ovaltine. Prickly hops and greenery. Palma violets. Charred hops. Slight hop burn. Gunpowder tea.
Conclusion: In all that I have been happy to find and champion some really good west coast style IPAs recently, mainly in response to everything being a gosh darn NEIPA recently (ok, ok, some are Brut and milkshake, but NEIPA is the one I see most), I have realised that in doing so I have been forgetting the joy that can come from its maltier cousin the east coast style IPA.
This isn’t 100% east coast style, but close enough for comparison. It pushes apricot as the main fruity hop character, but the fruitiness is not the main element here. Instead the main thing it pushes is the malt chocolate …erm ..malt character (Ok I could have worded that better) against a very green bitter hop style. It’s got a slight rough hop burn but mild enough that it is an appealing edge rather than painful harshness like some I have encountered.
It’s a solid take, slightly overly greenery touched, but generally good bitterness. Over time you get used to the slightly harsher, almost gunpowder tea like notes and it gives a bit more room in the beer, letting some gentle custard sweetness come out. A decent mix of the hop kick, malt weight and soothing sweetness.
Ok, and yes there is some fruit, but as mentioned it isn’t the main thing. Notable elements include a slight grape note that comes out over time that gives a fresher note just when it is needed.
It is a little rough around the edges, a bit greenery, a bit hop burn like, but generally it is a solid one. A decent malty IPA with good hop weight, not the best but does the job.
Background: Overtone. One letter off being able to make an overton window joke. Darn it. Though I am still wondering what would happen if they moved the windows in their brewery. Anyway, a new brewery that I ran into in Independent Spirit. Went with their IPA to try them, as that is my general go to beer for a new brewery. Comet and Waimea isn’t a set of hops I would say I knew well enough to describe too well, so should be fun examining them. Went back to Crossfaith: Ex_Machina as music for this one, freaking love that album. High octane electronic meets metal.
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