Beer Review: Left Hand/Terrapin Oxymoron

Colorado's Left Hand Brewing and Terrapin Beer of Athens, GA may not be terribly close to one another geographically, but they share a creative impulse to go beyond 'official' beer styles.  In this, their third collaboration as part of their Midnight Project series, they've done something unusual indeed - Oxymoron is an IPA, but it's been brewed with primarily German ingredients.  The result is quite intriguing - it's got a lot of hoppy bitterness, but with something of a softer, more rounded flavor profile.  There's a notable absence of the piney aroma so associated with typical American IPAs, and the malt backbone has a pleasing 'graininess' about it.  It's almost a little too drinkable for a 7.2% ABV beer (although, really, nothing compares to Heavy Seas Hang Ten in that regard - you'd never guess its ABV is in the double digits until you start pondering the fact that it's a weizen dopplebock - and it's probably too late at that point, you've gone and had a second one.  Of course, that’s assuming that wasn’t just me).

All told, it's very tasty indeed - a worthy addition to this experimental series (and kudos to Pinocchio’s for putting Oxymoron on tap almost as soon as it was released in kegs — it may look like the least likely place to get great craft beer, but the selection just keeps getting better and better).

Bring on more!