Four Seasons – Spring ’18 – Collaboration Ale

Four Seasons – Spring ’18 – Collaboration Ale by Mother Earth Brew Co. is a bludgeoning hoppy beer experience. So overwhelmed by hops I struggle to identify any hop flavor besides a sheer unimaginable amount of hops. While intense hoppiness is a hallmark of the style, for the Double IPA style (2015 Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) Category 22A), I would call the use of hops here radical, harsh and impeding on drinkability and the needed supporting malt aromas and flavors.

At first, intense pine resin and dried hop oils dominate. The overt hop oil character is so intense it smells like the clumps of hop oil left on hop harvesting equipment. Thankfully, for balance reasons, it does open up where cut pineapple and home-baked white bread emerge.

It has a brilliant, slightly hazy light amber color with a low and persistent white head.

An intense dried high alpha hop bitterness deafens the mid-palate until a finish of sweet biscuits with apple jam cuts through before the chalky, mouth-drying and intensely mouthwatering aftertaste.

This Double IPA has a medium body and pleasant moderate alcohol warming that is overtaken by the drying chalk character and harsh astringency.