88 Rating: 4th Anniversary Double IPA, Garage Brewing Co.

This hazy Double IPA leads with ethanol and hop bitterness, followed by unusual, but interesting, aromas of white milk chocolate and aggressive resin flavors.   

It starts with a moderate aroma of lemon peel, well-blended pine resin, candied vanilla caramel wafers, and white milk chocolate.  Pine resin and white chocolate-dipped buttery graham biscuit notes come forward after a few minutes.   

The Double IPA is a hazy ruddy amber color with a creamy unbleached lace-colored head that creates a patchy film on the top of the beer.   

The first sip is pine resin forward, followed quickly by graham crackers coated in aggressive hop bitterness with a lingering pithy aftertaste.  Overtime, heat coats my mouth and warms my lips, tongue, and throat.   The medium body combined with medium plus carbonation causes a biting prickling sensation exacerbated by alcoholic heat.

Drinkability is a hallmark of the Double IPA style (2015 Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) Category 22A).  However, here the diacetyl as well as intense ethanol and resin bitterness character, creates an off-balanced beer.  I was able to tame some, but not all, of the aggressive hop bitterness with four-year old Pacific Northwest cheddar.  Overall, the whole is greater than its parts.