Box Steam’s Derail Ale pours a bright amber with a nice creamy head and positively fizzes with life.
The smell is honey and straw and just a hint of apricot.
There’s a lot of shortbread biscuit in the malts, and together with some good chewy caramel, a little peach and a touch of tamarind tartness, this makes for a solid body to this IPA.
The hops are sharp and floral, bitter with green leaves and ever so slightly woody, though it’s more balsa than resinous redwood.
Te finish is dry and crisp and I could happily drink this all evening even if I can’t discern any of the “intense floral aroma” that the label suggests.