Kind of blue

Before moving on to more pressing matters, a nod of approval for the label design of the two latest beers from Lineman. The calming blues and purple invoke placid oceans and mellow night skies. They make it clear from the outset that you're dealing with a class act.

But it's the liquid that counts, of course. The first liquid is a pale ale called Cirrus. Strata and Citra is the no-messing hop combination, and there's no messing in the aroma. Citra's zingy grapefruit is to the fore, but Strata's pineapple and mango isn't far behind. It's a smell that promises a good time. And it doesn't renege on that: my three-week-canned example tasted bangingly fresh, again leading on the bitterness but leaving room for the softer tropicality behind. It is hazy, though, so you need to be prepared for a little vanilla sweetness which I didn't exactly welcome, but which didn't ruin the mood, at the same time. Both kinds of fruit last long into the finish, buoyed up on a full and soft body, thanks to the generous 5.1% ABV, and there's a pinch of savoury herbal bitterness right on the end, just to fill in the final blank on what hops taste like. This is pure understated brilliance, and a reminder of how hazy pale ale ought to taste, all the time.

From pale ale we accelerate all the way up to double IPA, and Lilac Chaser: 8.5% ABV, a collaboration with American brewery Barclay, and hopped with Mosaic, Krush and Maui Nelson. This, too, is hazy, though a shade darker than the previous. For all the busyness of the hop bill, its aroma doesn't exactly sing, but mumbles vaguely about candied peel and marmalade. Sadly, those hops are similarly muted in the flavour. I expected a colourful celebration but instead it's a somewhat soupy mélange of undiluted orange squash, lime jelly and hot Skittles. Like the beer above, it does feature both sharp citrus and sweet tropicals, but neither of them zings. While the boozy heat isn't oppressive, I think it does drown the hops out, whereas it should be accentuating them. I've had much worse double IPAs, and this one isn't at all technically flawed, but it's not especially joyful and ended up being a bit of a chore to chew through. The principle is sound, but the execution needs work.

The matchy labels made me think I had two of a kind on my hands here, but it was not to be. With no middle-ground IPA in the set, I'm actually a little surprised that the pale ale suited me better than the double IPA. Maybe it's a lesson in using solidly GenX-compatible hops instead of whatever "Maui Nelson" is supposed to signify. Tch. Kids these days.