Big Horse High Horse IIPA

On tap at the brewpub. Lots of citrus in the nose. Clear medium amber, some lacing. Medium body, mild malt beginning with a big hop finish. Not overwhelming, hides the 9% well. Refreshing

(Draft: Big Horse Brew Pub in Hood River, OR) Boy, the tasty brews just keep coming at the Big Horse. Sweet, hoppy, grapefruit nose predicts a classic double IPA is about to please my taste buds. Sweet, substantial pale malt background, balanced by a strong, bitter, grapefruit-flavored hoppiness. Medium-to-full bodied, somewhat sticky on the palate, with a long-lasting bitterness and a slight dustiness in the finish. Golden colored body, slightly hazy, with a long-lasting whitish head deposits plenty of patchy lacing on the glass. This beer doesn’t present anything new or distinctive, and thus isn’t in my upper echelon of the style, but nevertheless, it’s well-crafted and a great beer that I’d order again and again if I lived in Hood River.

Tap. Medium amber in color with a nice, retentive white head. Good lacing. Aroma is nicely citric, perhaps a bit floral. Medium to light bodied. Well balanced hop bitterness, nice and citrusy. Malt balance is somewhat sweet. A solid IIPA that drinks more like a heavier IPA. Alcohol isn’t noticed.