Review: Parallel 49 Riddle Me This IPA

I can't believe it's already been almost a month since I was in Vancouver and I still haven't posted all the breweries I visited while in town. One of the breweries I visited was Parallel 49 Brewing, a brewery I've been a fan of since 2013 when one of my beer buddies brought me some of their beer straight from BC.

Today I'm checking out Parallel 49's Riddle Me This IPA, which just like the Boombox beers I bought at P49 are actually available in Manitoba at the Quality Inn Beer Store.. because of course they are! Riddle Me This is an IPA that tops out at 6.0% ABV and while I couldn't find any information about the beer, I'm going to assume it's a West Coast-style IPA as it doesn't mention anything like hazy or juicy - BC is pretty well known for their West Coasts.

Appearance: A cloudy golden IPA with a moderate amount of carbonation in the body. The head starts off with a liberal amount of off-white head that diminishes pretty quickly and gradually to leave behind a very consistent and layered lacing on the side of the glass.

Aroma: The first thing that I got from this beer was "Wow, this smells just like Jerkface 9000!" because to me, it does. The pub a block away from where I live doesn't have a great beer selection but they always have Jerkface on tap so that's always my go to - it's sweet, citrusy, grainy and has a hefty floral hop presence to it. Notes of tropical fruit such as pineapple and grapefruit, as well as a bit of caramel malt to it as well.

Taste: Floral and piney hop presence followed by a good deal of citrusness, notes of pineapple and grapefruit. There's also a moderate amount of yeastiness that I get from the final sips of drinking NEIPA that leaves behind a bitter taste at the end, but throughout the the beer. Fairly dry on palate and the aftertaste is mostly a bit of pear, doesn't linger for long.

Overall Thoughts: Decent West Coast(?) IPA. It had some notes that reminded me of Jerkface, mostly the citrusness. I kind of got a vibe that there was oats in the beer to give it a bit of a cereal vibe to it near the end of sampling this beer. This is floral, tad bitter but pretty citrusy.. pretty much on point for what I'd expect from a West Coast IPA. I think the next time I go to P49 (if I can ever afford to visit Vancouver again), I'll check beforehand if Quality Inn has the beer in stock, but definitely no regrets buying this and Boombox when I could get it in Winnipeg! I was in Vermont four years back and I was surprised that Parallel 49's beer was actually available there, I was close to buying a bottle but it was something I could get back home so didn't make sense to buy it with a bad exchange rate!