Deschutes Inversion IPA.

I'm thinking about starting a dedicated beer blog where I actually make sense and try to be thoughtful. I figure I should get some good practice out here on the West coast. The plan is to be standard and more rigorous in my evaluation. It would also be cool if I could be funny.

This is my first beer from Deschutes Brewery in Bend, OR. I've been putting off buying Deschutes from the store because there's been some other, more interesting beers that have been catching my eye, but this 6-pack was on sale (a whopping 50 cents off). Good enough for me. I was pumped to try it out as Deschutes has been one of those fabled West coast breweries that don't have distribution back East. I also picked up a 4-pack of something interesting but I wanted to get into the Deschutes tonight.

Poured into a standard pint glass and got a nice, thick head, something that I've been missing from many beers lately. A deep inhale gave some interesting aromas. It wasn't the West coast hop bomb with which I'm familiar. Instead of aroma, it was more like scent, mild and fleeting at times. They weren't kidding when they said "Inversion".

• Appearance: Dark but transparent copper with a hint of red. Two fingers of fine head.
• Smell: Sweet berry tones, hot summer grass.
• Taste: Smooth and mild hop, conservative bittering. There are some sweet melon notes but stays clean, doesn't descend into too much malt. Alphas come into play on the finish without staying for too long. Maybe a little paper-y at very tail end.
• Mouthfeel: Low carb, maybe too low. Body is light to light-medium weight. Clean finish.
• Drinkability and Overall: This is a very drinkable, sessionable even, IPA. Alpha acid content won't blow out your tastebuds, and it has some different, interesting complexities than other IPAs. For an IPA, I wish there were a little more bitter and better aroma. It might make a good introductory IPA.