Today's beer is another spin on an IPA. I've looked at Belgian Style IPAs before here on the blog, with Heavy Seas Dubbel Cannon. Today's beer, Wildeman Farmhouse IPA from Flying Dog Brewing is a cross between an IPA and a Belgian saison. That ought to make this a very tasty IPA for the summer. Let's check it out. To the beer!
Wildeman pours a vibrant hazed golden yellow. It's topped by an absolutely massive dense frothy white head. That head takes it's sweet time settling down and leaves some nice lacing behind on it's way.
The aromas are very fruity. It's an interesting combination between the lemony citrusy notes of an American IPA and the banana and clove spice of a saison or hefeweizen. There's a bready maltiness going on here as well.
So far this beer has been hitting all the right notes. It's a very pretty beer to look at and the nose is interesting and complex. But as soon as I take the first sip things start to go downhill.
Wildeman is light bodied and spritzy. A lemony hop punch hits at the start along with quite a bit of carbonation. There's a nice creaminess but a bit of an odd astringency comes out on the mid palate. That leads into a tart mildly bitter lingering hop finish.
That astringency really makes Wildeman sharp on the tongue. Which is a shame, because the sweet hoppy weissbier/ saison like character is really interesting and tasty but that sharp, acrid, astringency really just kills whatever enjoyment I could have.
Flying Dog is a brewery that I'm usually a big fan of. Wildeman however, is not a beer that I'll be returning to.
HD
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