IPA

The beer

The close is where this IPA makes its case. Dry, bitter, and grapefruit pith, it does not sweeten up to fill a gap. The pith stays after the fruit drops back, which is the bitter end the style is for.

Pine, grapefruit, and pear come first. The aroma is hop-led and particular, not a wash of generic citrus. Pear keeps the nose from reading as rind alone, and the grapefruit shows up as fruit before it shows up as peel. Pear is the soft note, and it stays there. It does not come back as sugar.

In the mouth the same hops turn citrusy and resinous. A light malt line sits underneath and does not compete. It gives the resin a place to land, then gets out of the way. There is no sticky middle. The resin carries the citrus, and the bitterness keeps both of them honest.

Bitterness stays in that register the whole way through. Resin and citrus lead. Pith and dryness finish the job. The frame is light. What holds the beer together is that the aroma, the resin, and the pith are the same hop idea. The likeness is that line. The limit is the malt, present and slight. The glass is an IPA in the hops and the dry close, and a lighter one in the malt.