Widmer Double M.A.C.

Here's beer #3 of the Craft Beer Explorer sampler pack.
Widmer Brothers Brewing Double M.A.C., Experimental Small Batch Series. ESt. 1984, Portland, OR. Alc./Vol. 4.8%. IBU 50.

Before I get into the beer, I have to recognize an irony. After all the favorite glasses I've broken and sobbed over through the years, I still have this pint glass that I bought on a tour of the Widmer Brothers brewery in Portland twelve years ago, in 2002. One of the breweries that I drink the least, the glass I almost never pour into…cruel, cruel irony.

So, appearance: it's a slightly hazed, bright golden color, with a slim, soon-gone head. Eh.

Aroma: Lemony, citrus-y, low on hop bitterness. Little else. Double Eh.

Taste: Some hop bite at first, citrus-y hop flavor floods the palate, malt adds little to the overall character. Light bodied, light finish, forgettable flavor. Not liking this at all. There's nothing really happening. This is the problem with the session IPA craze, that it leads to bad beers like this.

I want to read the label now. "Description: Double M.A.C. is an easy drinking, vibrant and refreshing session IPA double dry-hopped with Mosaic, Amarillo and Cascade hops. Prost, to the perfect session. Style: Session IPA. Malts: Pale, Caramel, & Munich."

Eh. It''s not that bad. It's just not much of anything. It lacks. Just lacks. I don't need higher alcohol, I don't demand fuller body, I just want coherence, and character, and a beer that ought to exist. This doesn't have any need to be.

I've got seven bottles left of this. If my opinion changes as I drink them, I'll come back and tell you.