Boulevard Brewing Co. Pop-Up Session IPA

**Aroma:** “Fruity and spicy. Citrus notes followed by catnip. Fresh-mown lawn along with pineapple, banana, and a light earthy/woody base. Could benefit from a stronger nose.” **Flavor:** “Smooth malt, slightly sweet. Full body for a session-strength beer. Coconut, pineapple, black tea, and hints of toast. Bitterness is supportive but not overpowering. Finish is balanced between hops flavor, bitterness, and a light malt. Moderate fruity esters.” **Overall:** “Firm bitterness lingers just long enough. Nice mix of fruity hops and esters with a medium-sweet malt base. Just a bit of butter in the finish detracts from drinkability. An okay session IPA with acceptable hops character, but a touch watery and one-dimensional relative to others in the category. Seems more like a normal pale ale than a session IPA, but that’s just an arbitrary distinction.”

**Aroma:** “Lemony, citrusy goodness is a refreshing change from grapefruit. A bit of pine and some grainy sweetness. Light herbal and woody aroma and sweet malt. Bready and grainy. Nutty esters—like pistachio.” **Flavor:** “Lemongrass, a hint of hay, pleasant but slightly subdued grain-malt sweetness. A little less hops flavor than is suggested in the aroma, but it’s nice nonetheless. Hops flavor becomes more interesting as the beer warms. Refreshing bitterness. Watery hops avor is more distinctive than in the aroma, offering pine-tree notes and woodiness.” **Overall:** “A lovely little IPA-esque ale. Nothing I’d go out of my way go get, but would gladly order it in a sea of adequate beers. The lemony aroma is especially enticing. Malt avor is too pronounced relative to the hops character or bitterness level, but there’s lots of complexity in the aroma.”

**Aroma:** “Citrusy, lemony, with a bit of tangerine and tropical fruit punch. Little to no malt aroma. Mild hops nose with light coconut and pineapple notes.” **Flavor:** “More tangerine in the flavor than in the aroma, but less of the lemony citrus. Juicy hops flavor with enough malt sweetness to support it. Bitterness balances the malt without overpowering. More of that coconut and pineapple, buoyed by the caramel malt and light toffee. Bitterness lasts into the aftertaste, but some malt stays with it.” **Overall:** “One of the better session IPAs I’ve had, like a Deschutes Fresh Squeezed ‘Lite.’ Tropical-fruit character combined with caramel malt depth makes it imminently drinkable. I could easily knock back several of these and make it a true session—something I can’t always say about this style. The overall impression is that this seems sweet for a session IPA, but the flavors work well enough.”