Firewater IPA is a product of local North Carolina brewer, Catawba Brewing Company. It is what they call an “East Coast IPA” which is their interpretation of a an IPA using six varieties of British hops, and six different malts, including wheat and five barley malts. This all leads to a relatively mild, balanced IPA that has the appropriate hoppy characteristics but that is also still relatively understated. The nose is floral and slightly bready. The middle has a bit of very mild lemon citrus and a dry wheat backbone. There isn’t much new in the finish. A bit more lemon, but it’s pretty simple. The alcohol is fairly average as well, at 6.0% ABV.  All in all, this is a nice interpretation of an milder IPA, but nothing particularly stands out.

I give it a 3.5 out of 5.