Heat Meisters 

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• Mike Riedel

2 Row - Liquid Therapy: This new IPA features a cryo version of a hop that's currently known as HBC 586. This is cryogenic hop-processing technology that isolates the desirable lupulin in the hops, and separates the less desirable flavor elements.

This 9.0 percent double IPA pours a turbid, dark peach/carrot juice hue, capped with multiple fingers of rocky, white foam. The aroma starts off sweet and grassy upfront, welcoming in apricot, sweet, musty mint, papaya and grapefruit rind steadily. A consistent grassiness persists over the middle to softly undercut the building tropical overtones before wisps of uniquely dank red berries ease through the finish.

Taste features juicy, overripe peach in waves upfront, accented with hints of nectarine, grapefruit oils and mango; the tropical amalgam maintains across the palate as lemon and lime fade with the finish, and hints of bubblegum linger (in typical 2 Row fashion). Mouthfeel shows a medium body with a subtle, moderate carbonation. It presents silky with a mild hop prickle developing as it becomes creamy, juicy and pithy past the mid-palate, and remains consistent to the finish, where it maintains a plush quality and vague bitterness on the swallow.

Overall: A confounding and intense experience, so heavily saturated in a flowing hop nuance and begging for perfection, and yet maybe too intense for its own good. There's a certain lack of order that prevents individual elements from shining through, and can be counted as possibly the sole reason this is only 9.5 and not a 10—in other words, just short of world-class.

Level Crossing - Fruit Bat Philly Sour: This features Philly Sour yeast: a somewhat new soring yeast that Level Crossing has had great success with. A murky, peach-colored body shows itself on the pour, with a thin white cappuccino foam head that hangs around as a patchy lace blanket. If you put a blindfold on me and asked me what was in this glass as I took a sniff, I would say mango for sure; it smells exactly like a traditional Indian mango, full of pulp, yogurt and a hint of peach. You pretty much nailed it, Level Crossing crew.

Upon tasting, however, I was not expecting what I got—this beer is insanely tart, like many of the lactic acid sours that are in the market. While refreshing, it does detract from the fruit flavors that are also present in the beer. As far as the fruits are concerned, mango pops out first. It's somewhat sweet, but it comes across as green mango due to the tartness. Peach is present, but a bit muted. Either way, the true flavors are lost in a maelstrom of sour candy character. Background hints of mango, lemon and unripe berries are in there as well. Mid to light bodied, with a decent amount of carbonation in this 5.0 percent beer.

Overall: It's a bit of a shame this brew was a massive sour bomb. I really wanted to enjoy some of the mango and peach, which I'm a fan of, yet the sourness of this beer overpowered those flavors. That said, the aroma of this brew was right on the money; rarely do beers that are named after other drinks/food hit the mark as accurately as Fruit Bat. The real enjoyment of a beer for me is in the flavor, but if I could sit and sniff a beer all day, this would be the one.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts on Fruit Bat Philly Sour. You can find this one on draft exclusively at Level Crossing. I found Liquid Therapy at the Beerhive, and have seen it at multiple beer pubs and restaurants in SLC, but I always prefer the source for these limited production IPAs. There's no telling if the special cryo hop will come around again, so jump on this one sooner rather than later. As always, cheers!