Loose Cannon

Available: MD, DC, VA, PA, DE, NJ, NY, NC, OH, MA, GA, RI, CT, PA, IN, IL, KY

A beautifully composed IPA. The style is evident throughout — quietly confident, one might say — but there is no bluster or boasting. It looks good, with its bright white head and teasing bronze color. Its aroma suggests tropical fruit: lychees, perhaps. A lightly creamy texture gently supports the hop flavors, which are appetizingly bitter, but also expansive. I had developed a warm relationship with the hops before they came at me for a last, hard-hitting volley. I slowed them into a clinch. I wanted to savor this brew.
- Michael Jackson

Pours perfectly, bright yellow tinged with green, topped by a thick, dense eggshell head. The nose is forward and distinct, like a farmhouse cheese. Though there is a heavy dose of herbaceous and spicy hops, there is also a fruity balance of sweet wort, clean, and easy to drink. We loved it with crab chowder, wild Lummi Island sockeye salmon and bread pudding with a black strap molasses sauce.
- Charles Finkel

Should I describe this as a hops cocktail or as lightly toasted bread slathered in mildly alcoholic orange marmalade? It pours with a fresh floral bouquet, brimming with citrus aromas, particularly orange zest. More hop flavors appear in the mouth, notably tangerine, grapefruit and pine, their juiciness playing against bready malt and fruity yeast. Bitterness — mostly mouth puckering grapefruit, but also woody pine — at the front and lasts through the finish. Not complex in a conventional sense, but quite a blend of hops.
- Stan Hieronymus

Michael Jackson
Author of Ultimate Beer, the Simon & Schuster Guide to Beer and numerous other works on drinks, Jackson has created legions of converts to fine beer.

Charles Finkel
Founder of Merchant du Vin and the Pike Brewing Co., Charles Finkel is a pioneer in the marketing of craft beers in America.

Stan Hieronymus
Editor at Realbeer.com, a professional journalist for 40 years and amateur brewer for 15, Hieronymus is the author of four beer books, including Brew Like a Monk.

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