LAZY BOY’S PERFECTLY GOOD IPA

I have to admit, I probably ordered this one because of the LAZY BOY logo on the bottle. I even fired an email up to Everett, WA and asked the owner if they had any t-shirts available with this happy grinnin’ beer dork on them (they do). I think I remember this guy skulking around the taverns and garage rock clubs of Seattle when I lived up there in the late 90s. Jeans, ill-fitting t-shirt, Chuck Taylors, pasty skin, soggy hair, and always a pint in hand. He was usually found at Kent III or Makers shows. Anyway, back then he was my brother, and in homage to him I had this 22-oz. bomber IPA from LAZY BOY BREWING shipped to me a few weeks ago.

Busted this open at a Halloween party, and all of us who partook in it – all two of us – agreed that it was a perfectly good west coast IPA. It was far more pronounced with citrus tastes (think Ballast Point’s IPA) than with pine tastes (think Stone’s Ruination). Quite restrained, in fact, and very drinkable, possessing a lot of the qualities that make LAGUNITAS IPA so popular with the rank and file, but far tastier and certainly more hoppy. I imagine it to be a great one to pair with barbequed chicken and a starch of some kind, maybe outdoors during that six-week magic period in the Northwest when it’s not misting or pouring. I’m going with 7.5/10 for this bad boy.