I like the slogan on the side of the label; "beer speaks, people mumble." However I like to believe that the art of conversation isn't dead though. The amount of people I talk to everyday at the gym about anything and everything is usually a good massage for my morale as well as their own. Even in my mid-forties I still learn new things on how to communicate with people of all ages and backgrounds. Just by talking to people about nothing and everything. I've become a bit of an agony-uncle lately. Most people at the gym are trying to recover or rehabilitate from injuries, or lose weight. Yesterday I found out that I always start with the negative. I get them to tell me whatever is bothering them or whatever they want to get off their chest. I try to give them advice if I can, or just listen to them and sympathise. Then I get them to finish with whatever their best anecdote is that makes them laugh. They generally leave me with a smile on their face and hopefully have a brighter day, whatever their troubles may be.
So, back to this Daytime Session India Pale Ale. I'm always a little jealous of the Americans, because their beer bottles are larger than our's. Of course we have pint bottles, but our so called 'half-pint' beer bottles are smaller. That 25ml makes a big difference, you know… Anyway, on opening the 355ml bottle the aroma was a mixture of biting herbal hops and then fruity citrus hops, almost akin to a smell of grapefruit, followed by the sweet malts in the background. On taste this shining golden IPA had an initial herbal hoppy bitterness, with that fruity citrus grapefruit hoppy bite almost immediately behind it. These hoppy bitter flavours were then soon smoothed out by the sweetness from the pale and possibly crystal malts. This is a very flavoursome beer which washed my tuna baguette down a treat! I'll have to look out for some more.