Platform Sun Surfer Hawaiian Style IPA

Sun Surfer Hawaiian Style IPA. Platform Beer Co. Cleveland, OH.

4.9% ABV.

Continuing to investigate IPAs with interesting adjuncts, this time guava and pineapple.

OK, check out this labeling:

So educational. Best I’ve seen.

Appearance

Not much head at all on the pour. Surprisingly this isn’t a hazy IPA.

Golden to amber.

3

Smell

Wow. It’s sweet like juice. Guava.

I don’t smell the pineapple.

That’s it. Just juice.

Aimee discovers that the can does smell like pineapple. The poured beer does not, the can does. Curious.

Can is pretty; labeling is great.

4

Taste

Aimee says “hm”, and I say “hungh”.

It’s odd.

As with the previous juicy IPA we tried, I find that the taste is not nearly as fruity as the smell, with the biterness covering up a lot of the expected flavor.

The body is light.

I suspect that without the adjuncts this would be an uninteresting IPA.

The taste is complex, but the constituent flavors don’t seem to work with each other.

It tastes bad.

2

Mouthfeel

The mouthfeel is light.

4

Overall

Super disappointing. With all the ingredients spelled out on the can I was expecting something … sophisticated.

This does have three types of hops I haven’t heard of before, so it seems quite an experimental beer.

There are probably too many ingredients in this beer, and the sum is not greater than the parts.

2