6% ABV is a reasonable strength for an IPA. Today I've got two new releases from DOT Brew, both in that style at that strength.The first boasts of its specific hops, and is called Citra Strata Citra. It's bright yellow and a little on the hazy side, though I suspect isn't supposed to appear fully murked. Double the Citra is apparent from the aroma, which is predominantly zesty lemon, with only a little of Strata's softer tropicals. The first sip brought a surprise: this is thin. I was expecting a decent buzz of booze and a malt platform to propel the hops, but got neither. Instead, it's rather basic. The citric side of the hops is no stronger than a faint oily peel, while the fruit element is apple and white peach: plain and a little watery. It finishes quickly and is clean and refreshing, but that's not really what I'm after in a hop-fronted IPA of this gravity. The hops don't really get the showcase promised in the name, and while the beer itself is fine, I really expected more from it. Them's the breaks.
I don't know why that got the small can while the next beer, more of a novelty recipe, got the bigger one. This is Gone Soft. It's anyone's guess what the hops are, but the special name-defining ingredient is lactose. It looks quite different to the previous, being a darker orange with copious amounts of foam. The aroma is orangey, like a cordial, though less like an ice lolly than I was expecting. And again it's on the thin side. Neither the basic gravity nor the unfermentable milk sugar is beefing up this fellow. The orange theme continues in the flavour, and is subtly zesty. It's a fine line between subtle and bland, and I think this beer stays on the right side of it. I can taste what the lactose brings and am impressed by how understated it is. There's a faint hint of vanilla, but it pairs with the hop zing rather than fighting or suffocating it. Everything else about the beer is clean, and there's a little herbal or cola spice right at the end, lending it extra personality. While not a hugely different beer to the previous one, it goes about its business much more successfully, though I can't tell you exactly how that works.Well that was an interesting experiment, and I'd love to know if these were both produced by the same contract brewery. They have much in common but I think Gone Soft uses its hops to better effect, or at least doesn't tout them as the beer's whole deal.
