White Hawk IPA

Available: GA,SC, NA, FL

Bottle-conditioned and, I suspect, dry-hopped, this hazy gold IPA is no shrinking violet, beginning with a rich, spicy hop aroma backed by notes of dried apricot and a hint of butterscotch. The body brings with more apricot fruitiness, this time mixing fresh and dried fruit flavors, and no small amount of malty sweetness before exploding in fresh, spicy, aggressive hop notes, sweetness quickly becoming submerged below a blanket of bitterness that grows somewhat rooty and vegetal on the finish. We had a storm the other day and this was a wonderful ale to sip and contemplate while the snowflakes fell.
- Stephen Beaumont

Recognizing the bottle conditioning yeast sediment, blesses the slight haze of this golden IPA. Meager head retention. Mild, fruity and sweet malt and hops balance doesn’t jump out in the aroma. Initial sweet flavor overruled by quick bite of hop flavor lingering and then beckoning to continue indulgence. The beer has personality, yet of a clandestine nature. Not a tremendously malty sweetness, rather simply sugar sweet — lacking complexity. Lingering hop bite is all that is memorable. A different essay on IPA, in my opinion. Decide for yourself.
- Charlie Papazian

This beer has a hazy, full gold color topped with a lacy white head. The aroma is rather British, reminiscent of the old Ringwood yeast strain, though I don’t believe the brewery uses it. It has a slightly minty earthiness; behind it lies bready malt. The palate shows broad, mouth-coating bitterness and flavors of lemongrass and fruit. It pulls up suddenly into a dry finish. The hop aroma is quite low, but the palate is well balanced and the lemongrass flavors would be great with shrimp pad Thai.
- Garret Oliver

Stephen Beaumont
Stephen Beaumont boarded his first plane at the age of 15 and hasn’t looked back since, obsessing about travel to the point that he gets nervous if he doesn’t have a ticket or two stacked on the corner of his desk. When he’s not running around in search of new taste experiences, he makes his home in Toronto, where a new cultural experience is only as far away as the next neighborhood.

Charlie Papazian
Author of the New Complete Joy of Homebrewing, founder of the Great American Beer Festival and a Beer Examiner at www.examiner.com, Papazian is a leading voice in beer and brewing.

Garret Oliver
Internationally recognized brewer and expert on traditional beer, Garrett Oliver is the brewmaster of the Brooklyn Brewery and the author of The Brewmaster's Table.

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