Due South Category 3 IPA

The Stats
Style: American IPA
ABV: 6.10%
Current Ratings...
- Beer Advocate: 3.45/5
- RateBeer: 3.35/5

I did a recent trade with someone in Florida and received some pretty cool extras. I must admit I've never heard of Due South Brewing, but this Category 3 IPA comes off as quite humble when you read the description on the can: "Although fruity and citrusy, this beer has only four ingredients: malts, hops, yeast, and water". Somebody's trying to be modest.

Pours a golden dark yellow/light orange with two fingers of a soapy white head.

The aroma has some garlic/onion notes that I normally associate with West Coast IPA's. The can might say fruity and citrusy (which I do detect a slight candied orange), but I get more earthy and herbal hops.

I'm glad to say that all the garlic/onion from the aroma is not here on the taste. Instead this has an overpowering (but not off-putting) malt presence. Like the nose, this has more of a grassy hop bite and it has a bitter and resinous finish. Sorry to say, but there are barely any (if any at all) flavors I would pick out and genuinely call fruity or citrusy.

At 6.10%, this was thicker and chewier than I had anticipated. It goes beyond a usual medium mouthfeel you get with standard IPA's. There's not a lot of carbonation and that, combined with it's unexpected thickness, can make this come off as slightly syrupy.

Category 3 IPA promises to be fruity and citrusy, but it unfortunately breaks that promise. The beer can be enjoyed for it's abundance of malts, herbal hops, and resinous finish, but since it didn't deliver what it promised, I would hope that whatever flavors were there would be bigger and bolder. Alas, this is a pretty standard IPA, but don't go believing what you read on the can.

Rating
6.9/10