I love these tweets from Austin Street founder/brewer Jake Austin. His point is unfortunately very accurate, there is a very vocal segment of the craft beer population who spends an inordinate amount of time praising hoppy beers (and little time on anything else). I know the blog has spent a little too much time on IPAs recently, and I promise I will move onto some maltier styles soon. This review is different in one way, it is actually my first Austin Street review! There are a combination of reasons why it took so long. Austin Street is only available in Maine and has very limited distribution even in state, and I usually only review beers I bring home. I’ve been to the brewery a few times, but each time they either were growler only (which is tough when you are traveling), sold out of cans, or I got pulled away by my group before I could buy anything. So I’ve enjoyed a number of their releases but haven’t reviewed any. The number one goal of my latest trip to Industrial Way was to amend this oversight and get some Austin Street beers to review, so it was my very first stop when we arrived. One of the beers I grabbed was Offset, a Double IPA brewed with Citra and El Dorado hops. Austin Street Offset is available on a rotating basis on draft and in 16 oz cans.
Austin Street Offset pours very hazy deep yellow with a solid white head. The aroma is a full burst of hops, heavy on the tropical fruit. This is a hop-bomb New England style DIPA, notes of guava, melon, papaya and grapefruit along with a soft bitterness. The malts add some balance, hints of bread dough and honey. Offset is full bodied but drinks easy for a DIPA with 9% ABV. The finish is crisp with plenty of lingering hop flavor. This is just what I look for in a double IPA, bold flavors but still goes down smooth. I’m looking forward to writing up more Austin Street releases in the near future, I just need to schedule another trip to Industrial Way! Hoppy Boston score: 4.5/5.
Hoppy Boston 
