Alexander Tropical IPA: A fruit cocktail of aromas and flavors

The Alexander Brewery in Emek Hefer is one of Israel's most established craft breweries.  Owner and brewer Ori Sagy concentrates on maintaining the quality of their excellent core beers, but from time to time also issues a seasonal brew.  Such is the new Tropical IPA, an India Pale Ale that lives up to its name.  It's made with enough hops (Galaxy, Mosaic and Citra) to give it a crisp bitterness and a salad of tropical fruit flavors.  It also includes oats (for extra creaminess) and sugar (to give the yeast more food to make more alcohol – it's a strong 7.8%). 

The hop aromas reach you as you pour out the clear, light amber beer – a fruit cocktail of citrus, pineapple, peach and mango.  The flavor also highlights the tropical fruits, but puts them inside an envelope of bitterness.  You feel the full, creamy body of this beer, some alcoholic warmth, and a long finish. 

My drinking partner Moshe opined that Tropical IPA "has the taste of a summer beer, but the heaviness of a winter beer."  At any rate, it is truly delicious.