The beers of New River: Oskar Blues Pinner throwback IPA

I recently went on a pub crawl in Ashville with my lifelong friend and fellow beer nerd Chris Hilgar. We had many fantastic beers at some great brewpubs, but the one that sticks out for me was the Thirsty Monk Pub where I was re-united with my star crossed lover Rochefort 10. This beer was so good I was almost brought to tears. Someday I shall write a blog post about it, but today is not that day.

 No, today belongs to Oskar Blues Pinner throwback IPA.

As you all know, I like to talk a little about any brewery I haven't featured on the blog before.Oskar Blues was started as a bar and grill in Lyons Colorado in 1997 and started brewing in 1999. They are notable for being the first craft brewer available nationwide to use cans. In 2013 they opened a satellite brewery in Brevard, North Carolina where the following beer was brewed.
According to Oskar Blues site: "How do you cram as much hop & malt flavor and aroma as possible into a beer but make it crushable too? That's the challenge we answered with PINNER Throwback IPA. At 4.9% ABV and 35 IBUs, this drinkable IPA uses several varieties of hops to target the ever-evolving flavor. With tropical fruits, citrus juices, pineapple and spice berry up front in the aroma and flavor, the biscuit & toasted bread at the back balance out all the hops and make a great finish to go on to your next can of PINNER. It's the perfect beer for a little sip, sip, give." We'll see about that.
Nose from the can is citrusy, like grapefruit, maybe a little pine. Time to pour it in the super traditional Orion mug and see how it heads.

It has a nice golden color and a frothy, porcelain white head. Good activity on the inside of the mug, allot of big bubbles on the side. Nose from the mug is the same. flavor on the inital sip is mostly pine, with grapefruit citrus afterwards. Body is medium, not a particularly acidic mothfeel. A little of an alcoholic aftertaste. I'm ganna let this warm up a little and see if it changes.

I'm a little dismayed that I wasn't able to see the Hateful Eight roadshow, but it's out in regular theaters now so I'll probably see it tonight. I wanted to see that 70mm CinemaScope so bad. But I'm sure it'll be good in regular digital. Star wars didn't disappoint. Death stars were destroyed, masked family members were revealed, people who lived as bumpkins in middle of nowhere were allowed to pilot interplanetary spacecraft, central characters were killed with lightsabers, crazy looking robots and creatures were everywhere in an intergalactic cantina, dialog was terrible. It was a new hope over again sure, but it was pretty good. 

The pine flavor becomes much more pronounced after the beer warms. I don't know what the after taste it has gained is but it's not great. Mouthfeel has become even more mellow, also has more alcohol flavor. I'm out of beer now. It was a tasty one, not exactly nuanced, but it was good. If given the option, I would seek this one out again. I give it my blurry seal of approval.