Side Bae Cryo Pop Double IPA

Side Bae Cryo Pop Double IPA by Wild Leap Brew Co. is being reviewed as a Alternative Sugar Beer (Category 31B) due to the use of lactose with a Double IPA base beer (Category 22A) per the 2021 BJCP guidelines.

This beer pours a gold color with an opaque clarity. A head of tight, tiny bubbles forms on the pour but is fleeting and leaves a thin ring around the glass. The aroma consists of medium tangerine and low pineapple at the forefront. There is a low general sweetness with very low wisps of alcohol as it warms. There is no detectable malt character at all. This beer has a low initial sweetness quickly taken over by a medium flavor of pineapple and tangerine noted in the aroma. A medium bitterness follows after the hop flavor. The balance in this beer barely favors the hop in a 45 malt sweet / 55 hop bitterness split. The aftertaste consists of a touch of malt sweetness, lingering hop bitterness, tangerine peel and slight ethyl alcohol. This beer has a medium body with medium carbonation. This beer is incredibly creamy from the use of lactose, oats and flaked wheat. There is no harsh astringency and it has a pleasant low alcohol warmth. Overall, the aroma is slightly one-dimensional and misses the hop intensity in both flavor and bitterness to be claimed as a double IPA, and I expected more out of this beer.