Some of the best beers are the hardest to describe. I’d say that applies to Maiden in the Shade IPA, a summer release from Ninkasi Brewing Company Brewed with no fewer than eight different hops (Summit, Centennial, Simcoe, Columbus, Crystal, Palisade, Amarillo, and Magnum), it has a complex flavor profile I best describe as floral and a bit tropical with no particular flavor dominating. It ends with a light, resiny pine finish. Flaked barely smooths out the body. The hops are front and center, but it’s not this big lupulin assault. I’d hesitate to say it’s an easy drinking IPA, because it’s not that. It’s just an easier drinking IPA than it has any right to be, given all the massive hop additions. Drinking it on my back patio was just like sipping a glass of hoppy sunshine.
What’s that saying that writing about music is like dancing about architecture? That sums up my struggle to adequately describe this beer into words.
