Blue Dream Hazy IPA by Four Winds

Apparently inspired by a cannabis strain, Blue Dream is a hazy IPA infused with plant terpenes designed to give this beer the smell of marijuana.

Appearance: The can is visually distinct from all other Four Winds releases that I have seen. (The Four Winds brand doesn’t seem to have a strong design language. There's like four or five different design templates for their cans.) Blue Dream is hazy and yellow gold with a head that settles quickly and then dissapears completely, leaving almost no lacing. (I assume the additional terpenes inhibit foam formation.)

Aroma: Does it smell like pot? I’m not an expert, but I think not really. I do get a sort of vegetal smell, maybe a little spice and not too much fruit.

Flavour: Tough to pinpoint but I think there is some stonefruit in there. Some hops make beer taste fuzzy and I don’t know yet how to explain or elaborate on that any better. But this beer is fuzzy. There is a really strong ginger component to the flavour which is actually kind of pleasant.

Mouthfeel: Carbonation is medium. Body is full, like a traditional IPA. It doesn’t have that pillowy fluffiness you get with a great hazy IPA.

Overall: For the record, I like Four Winds as a brewery. I have spent a lot of time in B.C. drinking B.C. beer and I always found their early, more traditional releases to be very technically proficient when a lot of craft brewers struggled with consistency. But this beer is just okay. Maybe it’s because I’m not a cannabis connoisseur, but the plant terpenes gimmick—which mostly seems to drive ginger notes in the flavour profile—isn’t enough to make up for what is a middle of the road hazy IPA. (And there's really no shortage of those in the world today...)

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

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