449. 18th Street Brewery (Hammond, IN) - Nickel

“Double Dry Hopped New England DIPA.”

Nice hazy pour, and exactly the fruity, floral profile you would expect from a New England IPA. It has a comparatively sweet finish, so you don’t really taste the 7.4% ABV. Reminds me of Evil Czech’s Nefarious Harbor, which I clearly remember enjoying very much (three years ago). This one isn’t quite as sweet, and has some citrus flavor to go along with the stone fruit—but it’s not quite as much fun as I remember the Evil Czech being. Can’t put my finger on why.

447. Indiana City Brewing Co. (Indianapolis, IN) - Dock Seven

“Dock Seven is an aggressively dry-hopped West-[c]oast style IPA, bursting with fresh floral hop aroma and bold bitterness. A Hop-head’s dream come true.”

Stoney’s didn’t stock a whole lot of Indiana City stuff while the world was shitting the bed, and I never made the effort to get to the brewery, so this is only the second Indiana City beer I’ve had in over two years. The copy above is from the can, and the website adds the descriptors “citrusy” and “resinous.” The floral and citrus notes are in there somewhere, I’m pretty sure of that; but it’s that resiny pine flavor that takes center stage. Buckled to a nicely bitter (but approachable) finish that lingers quite pleasantly, it’s a classic West Coast IPA. I don’t like it as much as Daredevil’s Lift Off, but it’s very good. Both are light years better than Sun King’s Osiris. (And you can tell how green at all of this I was when I posted about Lift Off, because I basically equated it to Osiris, and implied that Osiris was an impressive example of the style. Neither opinion stands the test of time.)

440. Black Acre Brewing Company (Indianapolis, IN) - GameStonks

“Weizenbock w. Kviek Yeast.”

The name is fucking terrible, but the beer is excellent. I don’t know if you can get your head around the idea of a beer that tastes like raisins and Christmas fruitcake, but this one does—and it totally works. It’s vaguely sweet-and-sour up front, and then it fades into a smooth malt shop finish.

442. Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. (Chico, CA) - Powder Day

“We started dry-hopping, and it snowballed into a full-on Powder Day. Notes of citrus, stone fruit, and melon pile high in a blizzard of lupulin powder.”

Kind of a mish-mash of flavors going on here, with no one thing in particular standing out. Very easy drinking for a moderately-big (7.7%) IPA.

444. New Belgium Brewing Company (Fort Collins, CO) - Voodoo Ranger Agent 77

“IPA. Not Shakin. Not Stirred. This tactically refined IPA is brewed with international Nelson Sauvin and Galaxy hops to create a floral and fruity IPA.”

Should I have poured this into a warm mug I just drank a Black Acre Saucy Intruder out of? Slightly sweet, slightly floral, and maybe a touch tropical. Doesn’t taste like 7.7%, but that seems to be the way the Voodoo Ranger series rolls. Nothing to write home about, but nothing to besmirch, either.

445. SweetWater Brewing Company (Atlanta, GA) - 420 Imperial IPA

“A fresh take on ingredients from the original 420, this bold, flavor-packed new brother features a fresh combo of hops for added intensity and complexity, creating flavors and aromas of mango, peach, pineapple, citrus, and pine.”

Mostly tastes like ripe peach and mango to me, and that takes a bit of the edge off of the monster 9.1% ABV. This beer is of the confounding sort that is both very well crafted and far too big to drink more than one of.