Any Way You IPA

Any Way You IPA by Analytical Brewing is being evaluated as style 21A, American IPA, per the 2021 BJCP Style Guidelines.

In the glass, it pours a hop-hazed pale gold, not hazy hazy, just regular IPA hazy, with a creamy shaving-foam head that persists quite well. The nose is a mix of that old-school citrus and resin with some more modern onion and guava notes and, dare I say, durian? I dig it. Super fresh hop nose with those love/hate sulfur compounds. Not much malt in the nose, but that’s fine.

On tasting, it does have a juiciness to it, but I wouldn’t necessarily bump it out of style. Guava/passionfruit and lychee come through along with a sturdy bitterness, kind of West Coast feeling. The malt is also present here, lending a graham cracker quality that I dig. There’s a nice balance overall, though I do get some strange tangy notes.

Super fresh, this beer is very good and has a nice depth and complexity to it. The mouthfeel has a subtle slickness reminiscent of hop creep, so there may be a hint of diacetyl in here as well. Even with that, I also think the shelf life may be fairly short, as I’m already getting a light orange Lifesaver note that I equate to micro-oxidation in some of those modern hops. But as a fresh beer, pretty great stuff.