Lava Lamp Encryption - an 8% DIPA hopped with citra, mosaic, & galaxy hops - is the last of the trio gifted to me from Azvex Brewing to sample and is one that I was trying to hold off on drinking as I was warned that it may be a bit green. Thanks to my own negligence in grabbing this can in error instead of sour, I had cracked it open before even realising what I had done and, therefore, had no choice but to drink it but also took that into account when composing my thoughts.
As with both the other cans, the label design was eye-catching. This one (and Space Telescopes) in particular really matched the brief suggested by the name as it had binary code running across - though it's mostly covered with blobs of "lava". 10/10 for nailing the artwork, especially as a person who works in tech.
When poured, the head fairly minimal and didn't stick around for any noteworthy length. In colour, it looked to be the same shade as mango juice with a juicy, viscous appearance. The aroma had noticeable vegetal notes (would guess from the mosaic) amongst some citrus and sweeter but less discernible
fruity scents.
My thoughts after the first two sips were that it was fairly dry but arguable too much so and verging on potential hop burn . It was also less fruity in taste than in smell, which was unexpected. In terms of mouthfeel, it was full and creamy and the boozy taste of alcohol left in my mouth didn't mask the ABV - which is good or bad depending on the drinker as this can be the exact reason certain people love DIPAs and TIPAs . For me, it's not as easy drinking as other DIPAs but I would be interested to try again in future to see if part of that might be to do with needing to sit a bit longer in can and wouldn't let that put you off trying.
After having let it sit while I was cooking dinner (and having had a bite of something quite spicy as well), it had become less harsh in terms for my personal taste buds - especially around the dryness towards the backend. It made a fair accompaniment for cooking, especially because that burn would smooth out if you took breaks in sipping. I think the real problem is that I'm spoilt by epic DIPA choices - some that really know how to hide the ABV, which I tend to prefer. So while this is not necessarily the top choice for me personally, you can tell that it's clearly been well crafted and worth trying if you enjoy the DIPAS a la Verdant characteristics. I know it's landed well with many of the others on Instagram, so this is strictly down to my taste buds (and also possibly my complete and total error in opening far sooner than I intended).
TL;DR - This one was my most favourite in name but least favourite in taste out of the set, however it was far from an undrinkable drain pour and there are many people I can think of personally who would enjoy the way this one lands (I've had my share of Verdant DIPAs that have landed similarly for me that others have massively enjoyed and I think this would fall in a similar category - which is a huge compliment IMO considering how popular Verdant DIPAs are).
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