Judge's Review: 95 Rating - Digital Bath by Belching Beaver Brewing Co.

Digital Bath by Belching Beaver Brewing Co. was evaluated as a Specialty IPA (Category 21B) from the 2015 BJCP Guidelines. When tasting this IPA, I was looking for tropical/citrus juicy fruits and resin/needle-like notes from the hops, frothy vanilla/wheat character from the malt, bitterness balanced by a creamy mouthfeel, and overall something easy to drink without bitterness getting in the way. Oh yeah, and it needed to be hazy.

Overall, it nails my expectations. It’s a bit more sessionable than anticipated and is missing the expected aroma or flavor intensity but otherwise is an enjoyable and appropriate example of type. The real strength of this beer is just how much of it one could drink without getting tired of it.

Aromas focus on fresh squeezed orange juice, pineapple, pine resin – supported by freshly torn mint and low Tahitian vanilla. Over time, the pine resin/crushed needles with orange pith dominate other aromas.

As expected, it is an opaquely hazy light gold color, though I anticipated more than a persistent 1/8” head in my Belgian snifter glass.

After the first taste, restrained flavors of pithy orange juice and frothy vanilla wheat create a clean-tasting experience. Arguably, it is one of the most drinkable NE IPAs I have tried. It does lack anticipated supporting hop bitterness in the finish or aftertaste. After a few sips, however, the pine resin hop bitterness balances out the not intense but very refreshing hop and malt flavors.