Tropify from BeerBazaar ➯ Israel's first Sour IPA

Tropify by BeerBazaar:
A "Hazy Sour Session IPA."

Hot on the heels of tasting a Cold IPA and a Wheat IPA, we now have a Sour IPA.  This one is from the BeerBazaar Brewery in Kiryat Gat and it's called Tropify, a "Hazy Sour Session IPA."  The label says that it's brewed with "four curious hops," and the ABV is 4.5%.

Sour IPA, I found out, is supposed to be a hybrid combining the tartness of a kettle soured beer with the hoppy, fruited softness of a hazy IPA.  It isn't a recognized beer style or even a sub-style.  It's more like a brewing experiment that very few American craft brewers will even touch.  The reason: Nothing clashes so much as the tastes of "sour" and "bitter."  In order to get the balance right, you have to find a way to soften the bitterness.  

That's a chemically technical question that I would rather not get into (mostly because I don't understand it myself!), but what do we have with Tropify?

Once we believed that different
locations on the tongue sensed
sour and bitter (and salty and sweet).
This is no longer considered scientific.

It pours out a semi-hazy yellow color with a small, fast-dissipating head.  The aroma certainly is sour, specifically lemon, with undertones of pine and flowers.  The taste is also tart lemon and a bit yeasty cake.  As sour beers go, it is quite moderate -- and also not very bitter.  The body is light, with an astringent and fizzy mouthfeel, and a finish that is tart and semi-sweet.

Tropify was made in a very limited batch of only 1,040 bottles, so by the time you read this, you may not be able to find any at your local BeerBazaar.  However, if past experience means anything, BeerBazaar may very well bring Tropify back in the future.  There are not many other Sour IPAs available in Israel.  In fact, there are not any other Sour IPAs here.  So I suggest you try it when you can.