Southern Tier 2X IPA

 

Southern Tier Brewing Co.   Lakewood, NY

Notes:
Double I.P.A.
12oz Bottle
8.2% ABV


Appearance:  Pours a clear, dark golden/amber color...not a ton of bubble action...pretty minimal off white head formed and really has no interest in sticking around...certainly filtered, it's as clear as an IPA as i've seen...(3/5)

Smell:  Tons of earthy/piney/damp forest hops mixed in with some citrus (orange, tangerine, grapefruit) and light floral hops aroma...some sweet, paler malt background, but this is a hoppy happening...it even smells kinda watery...as it warms, a strong floral hops bitterness begins to develop...(3.5/5)

Taste:  Grapefruit citrus hops, some earthy/piney hops and pale malts...pretty straight forward hops on hops on hops creation that brings a rounded hops flavor...floral hops really come out towards the end and tag-a-long with the citrus hops into the after taste...tons of grapefruit/orange resin all the way to the end...it's good, but not unique...(4/5)

Mouthfeel:   Light to medium body...carbonation is also on the light to medium side...it does fluff up a little bringing some nice floral citrus hops (citra i presume) to the palate...it's maybe the nicest part of this brew...citrus/pine resin remains on the tongue and subsequently my lips...even with it's light body, the 2X hops infusion is very apparent and saves this brew from mediocrity and takes it to pretty good...(4/5)

Overall:  This is another good offering from southern tier...2X IPA is certainly flavorful, hop heavy and carries a mighty wallop...though the flavor isn't unique, the paler malt variety used here brings a sweeter side that does it's best to balance out the overall...the higher ABV becomes pretty apparent after about half the bottle...it's a good beer and worthy of selection, i could drink 2 or 3 of these in a night and be very happy, but this isn't something that would come to mind when naming my favorite hop heavy brews out there...(4/5)

Score:

(3.77/5)