Beer Deluxe, Fed
Square Melbourne
“Anyone
for hoppy snow cones?”
As mentioned
previously in my review of Sierra
Nevada’s outstanding Blindfold Black
IPA, the Chico, Northern California-based brew masters have this year
released a four-part IPA series to rival that of BrewDog and their IPA is Dead
annual release series. Instead of honing in on one single hop variety as BrewDog
have done, Sierra Nevada went
for showcasing varying IPA styles; all the while showing off their talents with
hop growth, blending and experimentation.
Snow
Wit White IPA closely rivals its blackened brother in
terms of its class and character, however it differs immensely on a variety of
levels beyond simple style. At surface
level, it straddles the boundary between Belgian wheat beer and IPA so
delicately that it might as well be a circus performer walking the tightrope –
without a net to catch its fall. Look a
little deeper and you will find that no fewer than seven hop varieties were
used here; dwarf hops no less (as the name Snow Wit suggests). “Dwarf hops?” I hear you query. The long and the (very) short of it is that
growing hops in hedgerows rather than the more traditional method yield hop
cones that have denser, more concentrated flavours that differ slightly from
those grown in the usual fashion. *
A strong head quickly
dissipates, leaving behind solid lacing. It is like the snow melting
before a sunny day ensues. The aroma is
pungent and heavy with lemon zest and peel. Following through is massive
grapefruit zest, and complex herbal undertones.
Snow
Wit’s mouthfeel is as dense and as rich as the flavours that
follow; the entire palate is treated to a feast of delights. Smooth but rollicking and rolling flavours of
fleshy orange, banana and an undertone of bready dough lead from the front,
before huge, and I mean huge, grapefruit bitterness hits behind the molars. It is little wonder that the flavour profile
of Snow Wit is so immense given the
amount of hops used and the method in which they were cultivated. Moreover, Sierra Nevada is all about balance with their ales. Snow Wit continues this trend. It
is enormously drinkable while being wonderfully complex.
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