476. Wiseacre Brewing Co. (Memphis, TN) - Bow Echo

“When you’ve reached your all time low, you need a parking lot veggie burrito and the warm snuggle of a stranger’s husky (probably named Stash), the winds of change may find this beer landing in your hand. A vigorous dry hopping with Mosaic, Citra, Denali, and Centennial hops add tons of citrus and ripe tropical fruit flavor while oats add the fluffy texture. It may look strange, but they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder (if you’re an IPA traditionalist we recommend closing them). However, you won’t regret trying this clouded up version. Your vision may be blurry from staring into life’s bowl of horseshoes or within the thought sausage of unintelligible words inside a glowing book of sleepless dreams, but Bow Echo will help your eyes climb to safety and the chilly water will take care of the rest.”

There’s a lot of fruit flavor going on here, and most of it—papaya, coconut, and maybe a hint of lemon—is ephemeral; but a nice touch of peach lingers pleasantly on the back end. You’d think there would be some pine, or traditional “hop” flavor, with Mosaic and Centennial in the mix, but neither is present. The weather geek in me wants to like this beer because of its name—a bow echo is a Doppler radar signature that indicates a complex of severe thunderstorms that have been pushed out into the shape of a bow by the strength of the wind behind them—but that ain’t sufficient for a thumbs-up. The 7% ABV is fine, and the dry finish that I begin to detect halfway through the third beer is also fine; but I don’t want to have to drink three of something in order to find out if it’s working for me. I want something to impress me enough on the first that I want to have the second. (It’s also entirely possible that I’m picking at nits just because that description from their website is both fucking stupid and bad writing.) This beer does not impress me, but it’s not bad.