Beer Sherpa Briefly: Is West the Best?

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Pick your poison. Choose a lane. Beatles or Stones, Republican or Democrat, TikTok or Twitter? And for our purposes, West Coast or hazy? Everyone loves a rivalry to spice things up, and we have feasted on the tension between the youthful, neon New England hop bombs and the fusty bitter pine trees dad likes to drink.

Over the past five years it’s been no contest: hazies by a mile. The style that launched a thousand breweries is in no danger of losing its throne, but neither has it banished its rival. And with beers like Fremont’s new rotating IPA, Ollie, the king may have cause for worry.

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What a tremendous beer. No one will accuse it of tasting old school, yet one can trace the look, flavor, and balance back a quarter century in these parts. Let’s start with it’s partly-cloudy clarity. Since BridgePort launched their IPA in ‘96, this has been the look of the region’s hoppy beers. The sunset-orange hue doesn’t smack of the pilsner malt IPAs of San Diego, either. Then there’s the familiar citrus/pine on the tongue, arriving first in what our Bohemian friends would surely concede is a “fine” bitterness, all clean, bright lines that add structure without bite. Yet here come the modern touches at midpalate: a saturated Mandarin orange with a mango fringe, a sweetness that harmonizes perfectly with the bitterness. Fremont uses a classic Northwest malt base here, not too thin, not too thick, not too sweet but present. And finally, joy of joys, a crisp, dry finish just at the moment you worry the sweetness will overwhelm the delicate balance.

The idea of balance and harmony in IPAs once seemed preposterous, especially to European drinkers. Yet while IPAs are undoubtedly intense, they can be supremely harmonious. Ollie is a case in point. It’s not a diva, and it will no doubt suffer on Untappd as a result. Yet it illustrates the advantages of dad’s old beer—just like so many of the world’s classic sipping styles.