Town Hall White IPA. What? Not red, nor copper, crimson, or gold? Not even Black? Now we've gotta have the white IPA? How'd that IPA get so white?
I kid. I know the story. Take a white ale / Belgian wit, and add hops…voila! White IPA! Everybody's doing it!
Clear, straw yellow (why not cloudy and milky white?), smallish white head above.
Aroma: Sweetness, fruit, Belgian yeast character, a little vegetal, a touch of the banana & bubblegum thing…not especially hoppy.
Taste: On the tongue, it's nothing but smooth, with just a bump in the hops. Nice low, lingering bitterness. I'm not getting the essential characteristics of a wit, not too much coriander or orange, but I can feel the wheat, that's happening. Smoothness and super-drinking of the wheat, but a refreshing resurgence of hop bitterness, but never too much. Not enough to make it an IPA, and yet not enough wit to make it White…I don't really know what's going on here, actually.
Despite all these misgivings, it's a fine, delicious, refreshing ale, that I wish wouldn't choose a style, since it doesn't stick to one, or has hooked itself to this new psuedo-style, very loosely defined. This whole loosening of styles thing has me weary, and wary. Now, there's talk of "white stouts"…bullcrap. "Who's to say a stout has to be black", queries the millennial dreamers. "Everyone does," should be the answer. "Why can't an IPA be white?" they opine, and the correct answer is: "because, you idiot."
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