Cask pour. Coppery orange, cloudy, and lusciously creamy. Perfume and clementine aroma of gorgeously fresh hops, blanketing a garden of earthy sweetness over sugar cookies, cotton candy, and beer bread. Wildly floral, and burly, a centennial-dominant celebration of hops over fulsome malts, and no suggestion of alcohol. It sings the sunny-sweet melody of west coast hops with a crystal-clear tone, and more delicately than almost every midwestern example in my memory. Brilliant!

Flavor, similarly, is all sweet floral perfume and juicy citrus and tropical fruits, mostly sweet, and driven in with cotton candy and distant toffee malts; golden kiwi and wildflower honey accentuate the flower qualities of its absolutely intoxicating freshness. Again, it really captures a cheek-dripping summertime orchard experience in a way simply extraordinary for a midwestern interpretation.

Full palate, patently round and fulsome in impression; caressing. While I didn’t have the chance to enjoy it on tap, it seems that the cask treatment has polished it into a gem, as its texture really couldn’t be more alluring, more velvety, or any softer. Finishes with the sweet remnants of the huge citrus flavors, and bittering somewhat as the hops coat the very back of the mouth in flower petals and dandelion hues.

This stunning example of grace and integrated flavor is another argument for how undervalued this brewpub has been, especially recently as its seasonal offerings have become increasingly distinct and memorable. Call it a new IPA from Valley or Port, and it would be sought after, and I’m only sorry that I can’t get growlers of this cask version to send around the country. Bravo!

On tap at the brewery. Hazy yellow with a decent quarter inch of white head. Malty body with a distinct bitter cirus ho finish. Mostly caramel malt on the sweetness.

Pours a darkish, lightly hazed, peach amber color with half an inch of nearly white soft foam. Good webby lacing. Citrus hops and bold caramel in the aroma. A brick house of flavors here. Want hops? Pine up front, grapefruit up front, grapefruit in the middle, pine in the middle, grapefruit in the the finish. Bitter with a capital B. Want malt? Caramel and toffee throughout - beginning to finish. This beer is frickin’ huge. Medium carbonation. Mouthfeel - thick and full, with oily hops, and tongue-coating malt. And yet so smoooth. So drinkable. If ever there was a session beer IIPA, this is it. Very addictive.

Orange/Gold Coloring with White Ring. Fruity Hop Aroma. Citrus, Dry Hop Cloud...Slowly Disappears for a Crisp, Dry Ending.

Deep orange-amber. Hugely hoppy nose, flavor is minty, spicy, and very citirc. Interesting finish at the end, sort of a spicy pine resin coating in the mouth. Oily and full. Decent stuff.