Today I’m reviewing Mendocino Brewing Co.’s White Hawk IPA out of Saratoga Springs, NY. The label has a cool looking bust of a hawk on the front with its beak open, framed with ribbon art with the name on it and a green background.  Any IPA is a good IPA in my book, now its time to continue testing that theory.

I always sniff the bottle after I open it hoping for some great hop aroma, but this one has only a faint hop presense so far. It pours out very light golden with a full pale head. Not much aroma from the glass, either, but whoohooo, it has a nice bitterness to it. The first sip screams down my tongue to jump up and down in the back of my mouth, nice hopitude. Sitting after the sip and my mouth is still tingling from the hops.

I’m impressed with the bitterness as well as the lack of clinging sweetness. It has a nice crisp finish, with the lingering in the back of the mouth bitterness. Very nice.  A longer pull from the glass lets some of the maltiness come out. Well balanced for my tastes!

The head laces nice on the glass too, its always cool to see that.

Overall, I’d present 1.5 frosty mugs up. Since there are a lot of great IPA’s with huge aroma to accompany the bitterness, I can’t quite lift the second mug all the way up, but I will certainly not mind picking up a 6′er if I see it locally.

Enjoy,

Cheers!