J-Box

J-Box by Trickster’s Brewing Co. is a Northwestern Style India Pale Ale (IPA), and I am judging this beer according to the 2015 BJCP Style Guidelines, Category 21A, American IPA.

The beer presents a mostly clear dark gold color with a large, foamy and bubbly nearly off-white head that’s long-lasting with good lacing. The aroma is of moderate sweat and dank hops with an underlying grassiness and medium toasted bread malt. A medium-high toasted bread/cracker malt supports moderate grassy, herbal and tropical fruit hops and moderate hop bitterness. A medium-full body and moderate carbonation sums up the initial impression.

Further analysis yields some green tea and kiwi hop character in the aroma and flavor, along with a particularly clean fermentation devoid of any esters, which is typical in Northwest/West Coast interpretations of this style. The hops, flavor and bitterness dominate here but there is enough malt backbone to keep this from being one-dimensional. A lingering fresh hop character persists well into the bone-dry finish.

This beer really needs a bowl of Thai green curry loaded with coconut milk as its accompaniment.