Destihl Touch of Haze Hazy IPA
Touch of Haze Hazy IPA. Destihl Brewery. Normal, IL.
7.3% ABV.
This is a good one. We’ve had a few of these in recent days.
Look at that can. Look how it says the kind of hops in it (it says “mosaic & cascade hops”; my photography is especially incompetent today). Love it.
Let’s see if we can pick out any “lemon”, “green apple”, “pear”, or “melon”.
(I forgot to take a pic of this one before tasting).
Appearance
Hazy and golden with a foamy head.
Gorgeous can.
5
Smell
Aimee says this smells much better than the four aroma kit bottles of lemon, green apple, pear, and melon. She says “summer flavor”.
Summer is kind of a flavor I guess. Is it a valid tasting note?
There aren’t any rules here.
It is crisp and sweet.
It does smell much better than those little aroma bottles.
Lemon, green apple, pear, melon?
Citrus for sure, not so much lemon. Maybe grapefruit or yòuzi.
5
Taste
A surprising hit of celery. Celery is one of my least favorite hop notes, and I am happy when I can pick it out, because it gives me something to say, and I have opinions about it.
At least the celery is minimized here.
Aimee tastes “honey”. I don’t taste honey.
A lot of bitterness. Sweet too, but it is covered up by the bitterness.
I’ve lost the celery now.
Just biterness.
Aimee tries to clarify that she tastes yòuzi rind, and that strikes me as a great note.
Citrus rind is bitter like hops.
I take a sip and suck in a bunch of air and git hints of sweet fruit flavor, but then it sinks into pure biterness in the aftertaste.
I need more words to describe shades of bitterness.
Lemon, green apple, pear, melon?
No, no, no, no.
None of the aromas we’ve trained on are in this beer.
The celery is back.
4
Mouthfeel
The bitterness coats the mouth and lingers. A bit viscous.
3
Overall
I am surprised at my focused judgements of this beer. I liked it a whole lot drinking it casually, and I do like this beer a lot, but it’s not as sweet and fruity as I expected.
The fruit is mostly on the nose.
4