Mike BrownDeschutes Brewery located in Bend, Ore. is decidedly one of the largest craft breweries in our nation, stretching back on the timeline to the Reagan era.
It produces many readily available beers all the way from ales to weizenbocks. As for this review, I’ll be taking a closer look at the Pinedrops IPA.
The casualty of this endeavor was a 12-ounce. bottle, poured into a clean and ambient temperature Spiegelau IPA glass. No ‘born on’ date is printed, however the ‘best by’ date is clearly stamped “01/16/16.”1 This surprisingly long shelf life for such a hop heavy IPA is in part attributed to the bottle conditioned format. Plainly put, the active yeast added to the bottle lends the beer to increased flavor development, however it can potentially mellow certain brews. If you dig the rush of hop flavors that IPAs are known for, try to drink this one fresh.
The pour results in a glass shaded with pale orange and yellow, topped with a two finger creamy white head. After about a minute however, the head reduces itself to a thin spotty layer with a strong collar and lacing. The overall appearance is cloudy with a very small amount of particulates.
On the nose, there is a dank hop discord right out front, followed by a grassy and muted citrus finish. There is very little of the advertised “pine and spruce” accompaniment.
The drinking experience falls flat of expectations. The carbonation overwhelms the senses, and possibly shrouds what could be more appreciated from the given hop variety. Once the bubbles subside, what’s left is a bitterness familiar to the IPA style, but unfortunately void of any of body and complexity. The finish is a weak and dry pilsner. Unlike many other Deschutes wares, this beer seems unbalanced and thin.
