There’s a great new brewery out in Bay Shore, Long Island, called Destination Unknown Beer Company. They just began canning recently and I was lucky to get to try their Imperial IPA Sore Thumb.

With all the hazy, hop bombs out there, this was a classic (but fresh!) retreat to the West Coast IPAs that made me fall in love with the IPA style. It’s hopped with Centennial, Citra, and Simcoe hops. You can actually see through this Imperial IPA (unlike a lot of a the New England-style IPAs that are a recent fad). Sore Thumb has a great balance of malt and hops, making it very “crushable” and refreshing, even at 8.2-percent ABV.

The combo of piney and citrusy mango flavors immediately reminded me of IPAs similar to Russian River’s Blind Pig.  I’m looking forward to trying more … and rumor is that a Mosaic hopped IPA is next up. Look for it in the coming weeks.