When you get a WOW! beer. You just can’t get enough. I review many beers on this blog but very few make me go WOW! Off Leash from Crux Fermentation Project is such a beer.
A mega amount of Belgian Farmhouse funk is here but it doesn’t overwhelm like it can. Why? The hops are right there. Fruit and mango and pineapple in abundance. Then there is a spice note that is just as strong. And yet, it works. Despite having three major competitive forces. Which is usually a death knell for a beer.
This beer makes me want to find any other beer with a combination of Crystal, Citra and Centennial hops.
I am a cat person but the dogs and bones on this label might change me. The beer is that good.
And since, Off Leash was so good, the next night I uncapped the Outcast IPA in search of another hop experience and I got it. A notch or two below but since that is in comparison to a WOW! beer that is still pretty darn good. Lots of grape notes here. Almost Concord-y in intensity. The bitterness is a lighter shade to my overworked palate but it is still a zippy beer. The Galaxy hops come through with flavor and aroma and the bitterness doesn’t fight the malt but work as an undercurrent to it.
Both beers show a deft touch for balancing flavors and I wish I had bought more. ‘Cause I got no bottles left.
