REVIEW: Uinta Hop Notch.

This week I'm taking a look at a brewery that's new to Ohio, Uinta Brewing Co. out of Salt Lake City. I have been waiting with bated breath to get my hands on some Uinta beers. But for once, not because of the good things I've heard about the beer inside. My excitement for these beers is 100% due to those stunningly, drop-dead gorgeous labels. They are designed by The Tenfold Collective, a design firm in Loveland, Colorado. Seriously, that is some amazing work. The vintage look, the terrific typography, the simple lovely illustration, and the great choices on color. And check out the bottle with the compass markings! I mean, come on! This is the kind of work that makes me a bit sick to my stomach that I didn't do myself. I like The Tenfold Collective's work so much I even applied for a job there a while ago. But enough of my gushing. Let's see if the beer inside is as lovely as the art on the bottle. To the beer!

Hop notch pours a stunningly pretty crystal clear polished copper color. Plenty of effervescent bubbles rise to the surface and feed into a layer of bright white head that leaves great rings of lacing.

The aromas here are, as expected, very hop forward, and very citrus forward at that. Very grapefruity but backed by grassy herbal goings on as well. There's a bit of a crackery, biscuity character as well to balance things out.

Hop Notch is fairly light in body with a nice creamy character. In fact it tastes quite a bit lighter that I was expecting, especially for a 7.3% IPA. It leads off with a nice floral, somewhat minty flavor. There's a ton of rich fruitiness going on as well. Flavors of green apple, pear, white grapes, as well as citrusy lemon, grapefruit, and tangerine as well.The bitterness on this beer is awfully mild. It's never harsh or bracing. It dries things out and balances against the light caramel malt flavor. It does linger a bit on the finish, which I enjoy.

I liked this beer a lot. Very interesting for an IPA. Super fruity, not very bitter, and downright deceptive as far as the ABV goes. If it wasn't on the label I would guess that Hop Notch was 5, maybe 5.5% ABV. It's very light in body and very drinkable. The beer certainly is as lovely as the label. I'm excited to see what else Uinta has in store for me.

HD