Alright, so I did a decent share of drinking on New Years Eve, but not for the sake of ringing in the new year. No, I was hosting the in-laws, where the consuming of alcoholic beverages is frowned upon, so I did my brunt of drinking while watching the Music City Bowl game between NC State and Vanderbilt. I had a lot of reasons to drink, that game. Anyway, I told my buddies that I would crack a different beer each quarter and they could share in what I was drinking. Quarter #1 was Harpoon's (http://www.harpoonbrewery.com) 100 Barrel Series #43 White IPA. This was on my list because the beer had already surpassed the "best by" date and I needed to drink it down.
Now as the "pretentious beer snob", my friends give me a ton of crap. So when I poured the glass and looked at the one finger of white head, with light retention and light lacing, they rolled their eyes. When I was trying to describe the color, they suggested "dehydrated pee" color, which would be remarkably accurate, but not a good name. It does pour a hazy siena color. Floral and citric hops pop in this one. Grapefruit, oranges, the like. Very pleasant aroma.
My buddy doesn't like IPAs. The description of this particular brew is that it crosses with a wit to give it a different flavor profile. Upon first taste, the hoppiness was there. Left a nice bitter finish. The more I drank, however, the more I liked it. There was an effervescence in this one that got better as the beer warmed. I found the brew to be light bodied, easy to drink. As it lost carbonation, I thought to myself that this would do really well as a cask beer, if it was ever converted that way. This is my first "White IPA", but if this is consistent with the style, then I'd definitely get some more.
Grade: B+
Price Paid: $5.99 (22 oz bomber)
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