I’ve been silently watching @rootandbranchbrewing for a while now trying to wrap my head around their marketing and wondering what they were up to. It’s one part a guy telling you to read Heidegger and another part a woman extolling the sonic virtues of Pet Sounds, that soft voice and well meaning intentionality. This hazy follows in that same “low voice while sober/shouting while wasted” Williamsburg type of caricature. The entire experience is this goosetop mattress embrace of tangelo, sherbert, zested tangerine, and a wispy drag almost entirely bereft of any hop presence. I had this same issue with Hudson Valley with IPAs that are Hopped seemingly only at fermentation. These no bitter aspects and it seems to narrow its focus on fringe consumers, pushing a juice narrative for those outliers who “can’t stand IPAs” so you give them lemon meringue instead. What carries the day is the absolutely stellar mouthfeel and retention, a frothy cap of carb clings like those last polar bears in the face of global annihilation. Very refreshing. Webbing sheets and laces providing haunted house aesthetic and a silky crushed velvet swallow. It’s very good albeit perhaps missing the entire hoppy component that was initially the draw to this style, but I guess like functional linguistics the chowder ipa is a work of intersubjective progress we orally audit on a slurry basis.