If you have yet to try a craft beer from Boise, you may be in good company. However, Boise, population 205,000, is a small city only 5.5 hours from the lush hop fields of Yakima Valley and less than an hour from the Oregon border. Also, let’s not forget that Idaho is also officially part of what we consider the “Pacific Northwest” region of the United States. Hence, when you’re a brewery that’s in direct competition with the tasty beers of Washington and Oregon, you have no choice but to bring your A-game and that’s what Woodland Empire Ale Craft does with its “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheeple?”

Mixtape Series IPA with Mosaic, Vic Secret, Equinox, Simcoe, Denali
6.2% ABV | 50 IBU

We wish we could tell you we went traipsing through Idaho in search of adventure and delicious beer, but sadly that’s not the case. However, a can of craft beer went on long strange trip, first arriving in Denver via the beer delivery service Tavour, and gifted to us by a friend at a bottle share event. This can of beer was immediately eye-catching, to say the least. It sported a faded label that looked like it was printed by a home computer, with the name “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheeple?” in bold letters across the front.

While the label said nothing about New England on it, we noticed the hazy color right off the bat – it was a thick, peach/honey haziness topped with a giant white head (perhaps a side effect of the beer’s cross-country journey). Typically my favorite part of a hazy IPA is the aroma, and the smells emitting from this beer didn’t disappoint. The blend of Mosaic, Vic Secret, Equinox, Simcoe, and Denali hops produced notes of caramel, lemon, citrus and grapefruit with a super deep fruity resin complexity. Some of the very unique fruitiness may have come from the Vic Secret, described as “a less-dominant Galaxy hop” that also imparts high levels of passionfruit and pineapple.

We thought the beer’s taste was good, which is generous, given that we aren’t huge fans of hazy IPAs. The hop flavors were still fresh and tasty despite being canned and shipped a long distance, tasting primarily of grapefruit and lemon with a solid bitter bite at the end. The underlying beer was balanced with a dry finish. There was no vegetal aftertaste, which can be one of the more unpleasant characteristics present in the style. As the beer warmed, it became slightly sweeter, maltier and creamier.

Overall, this was a very pleasant IPA at the end of a long day. Perhaps in the future we’ll include Idaho in a Pac-Northwest beer vacation and give Boise beer another try.

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