Hoyne Brewing Co. Alpha Acid American IPA at 6.3% ABV (C$4.49 at Oak & Vine, 650 ml, no packaging date or best before, acquired 21-Jun-2018, reviewed 22-Jun-2018)
Appearance: hazy deep gold with two fingers of fluffy ivory head, good retention and spotty lacing. (4/5) Aroma: crackery malt, green onion, citrus, light pine, earth. (6/10) Taste: moderate sweet, moderate-high bitter. (7/10) Palate: medium body, moderate carbonation, off-dry building bitter finish. (4/5)
I’m a little surprised nobody’s used this name before. (Well – sort of. There’s a brewery of that name, and one other beer named “Alpha Acid Theory”.) In any case, I like the “cut to the chase” philosophy behind the name, clearly intended to appeal to those of us with the MOAR HOPS mindset. (I was a little surprised I couldn’t find a published IBU value, given that intention, but there you go. Life doesn’t alway make sense.) So, the obvious question is: does it deliver? Well… no, actually. The label doesn’t claim this is supposed to be an NEIPA, so let’s forgive the non-juice-like appearance. On the nose, though, this is almost Pilsener-like, with crackery malt playing a surprisingly large role, and green onion vying for dominance with citrus – and, much to my chagrin, sort of winning. There’s nothing actually bad about any of this, but it utterly fails to be the big bombastic bastard IPA the name promises. Ah, well: life is a series of bitter – or, in this case, insufficiently bitter – disappointments. (Yes, it still scores fairly high. What can I say? I enjoy complaining for its own sake. Plus, I like the juvenile delinquent tagger “I am Groot” hand.) Researching my own back catalogue, I find that the Devil’s Dream this replaces received exactly the same score, and I complained about its malt dominance, so I guess plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose, huh? (14/20)
7/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com
