Drank: Sintrus Citrus IPA (Heathen Brewing)

By Martin Cizmar

A year ago, the hop race was getting bitter. As the IBUs in local IPAs continued their steady climb, I found myself totally bored with the style. My faith was renewed by juicy IPAs like Laurelwood’s reformulated Workhorse, the updated Boneyard RPM and the Meridian-heavy Lompoc White Album IPA. Heathen’s Sintrus takes things to a new level. Heathen opened in downtown Vancouver, USA, in September 2012 with a standard lineup that included an IPA called Transcend. To make Sintrus, the brewery lightened up its standard IPA recipe then added orange, lime and grapefruit zest. After four days, it ended up tasting as much like orange juice as beer, with a cloudy, Tropicana-thick body that’s sweet and a little bready. There’s some bite, but it’s all orange pith, with no hint of resin or pinesap. Portlanders, they joke, drink IPAs with brunch. Suddenly, that doesn’t sound so bad. Recommended.

WWeek 2015

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