Welcome back all you beer snobs, it’s official now, “we’re number one!” Let us first take everything with a grain of salt, and take a moment to revel in the local beer scene. With all the options available in Bellingham and the Northwest in general, I would claim we are one of the most spoiled areas, I for one have yet to encounter any real snob like behavior here, and I don’t expect to any time soon.

With all that out of the way, let’s jump into a delicious seasonal IPA from Black Raven Brewing Company. Black Raven employs a very simple and admirable mission in their brewing process; brew beer that we want to drink. It’s always something easy to say and see, but it’s not always easy to do. Some breweries are more concerned with appealing to the masses and creating flavor profiles that they think others will like, without actually truly enjoying the beer they brew.

Today we will be sampling one of their seasonal releases, Beaktweaker Citrus IPA — “Built on a firm base of barley and rye malts, the BeakTweaker features bold citrus flavors and aromatics. A firm bitterness combines with citrus hop characteristics accented by the addition of black lemon, orange peel and lemon peel.” Hope you’re ready for a juicy bitter hoppy beer.

Brewery: Black Raven Brewing Co. — Redmond, WA
Beer: Beaktweaker Citrus IPA 
ABV: 6.5% / 77IBU
Cost: $5.99 / 22oz Bottle

Appearance (4.0/5) — Poured quickly out of the bottle, this beer presents itself with a nice bright yellowy/orange body, strangely similar to the label color. There is a great bit of clarity to it, you can see straight through it. Quickly rising bubbles help to form and maintain a nearly white, puffy head atop of the beer. Nice bit of lacing sticks to the inside of the glass with each sip.

Aroma (3.75/5) — Wonderful citrus notes on this one, almost immediately you are hit with bright lemon character, some juicy fresh orange character as well. Really nice lemon kick without being overly dominant. There is a really nice rye spiciness within the sweet malts to help balance out all of the citrus.

Taste (4.0/5) — Waves of citrus and bitter hops dominate this one. There is enough of a rye balance in the malt profile to keep everything in check. Lots of bright fresh orange juice, lemon peel, little bit of a grapefruit hint as well.

Mouthfeel (3.75/5) — Light-Medium bodied beer here, pretty much par for the course. This has a great carbonation level to it and is highly drinkable and refreshing.

Overall (3.75/5) — Nicely done overall, Black Raven continues to impress with it’s core beers, and seasonal offerings. Seek this one out while you still can this summer. Enjoy this one on its own, or pair it up with some grilled veggie kebobs while sitting out on the patio.

Cheers!