Bavarian Polaris IPA - Victory Brewing Company

Kegatron

Pennsylvania

3.73/5  rDev +5.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

On tap @ the Victory Brewing Company (Downingtown, PA) on 5/19/12. Served in a pint glass.

Pours a crystal clear copper, with 1 ½ fingers of just slightly off-white looking head. This retains with a solid ½ finger or so, leaving back sticky lacing which clings to the sides of the glass. The aroma is freshly floral and a touch piney, with a good amount of herbal character and then green citrus flavor that mixes with a surprisingly sweet smelling malt presence to give this a rich underlying tanginess in the nose. The brightness of those hops really sticks out here.

The taste is grassy and herbal feeling up front but this spreads out into more of a firm citric bitterness that leave resins and spice lingering in a dry finish. Malts are tight feeling underneath with a rigid bready sweetness to them for those hops to bounce off of. As this warms, more a tart lemon flavor and minty herbal tones start to emerge but this is pretty subtle. The mouthfeel is medium bodied, with a firm crispness up front that then gives way to more of a smooth slickness underneath. You do get a little bit of alcohol on the tail end of this, which pops that assertive finish, but it’s overall not too bad.

This was my first experience with the Polaris hop varietal and I found it to be quite interesting, with aggressiveness to it of its own but then some softer herbal and other citric flavors come out that add to the complexity and overall refreshing feel of this. This was a nice showcase for this.

Serving type: on-tap

05-21-2012 17:03:42 | More by Kegatron