Got Beer? In a Hoppy Mood: This cloudy brew gives our beer expert a sunny disposition

It’s been far too long since I checked in with Proclamation, our wonderful brewers in Warwick who brought us this past year’s Rhode Island Comic Con official brew. I regret that I have significantly fewer opportunities to immerse myself into the great wide beer world than I used to, but that just means I have to make up for a lot of lost time. So, as the next installment of my infinity-part series to sample and review all the locally made brews, I spotted a delectable-looking item for this column and just had to give it the thorough once-over, or perhaps a twice-over. Well, let’s just see where the night takes us, shall we?

I don’t know if it’s the sudden reappearance of the sun after an extended dark, gray, rainy age of torment ripped straight from Westeros, or the fact that the month of rain has caused my cascade hops to rocket out of the ground and strangle last year’s trellis before turning toward me, smiling as it uttered the phrase, “Feed me,” but there’s just something in the air that’s put me in a hoppy mood. Bring on those wonderful flower cones, I say!

Proclamation’s Ethereous is an India pale ale, and the can has little else to say about it besides mentioning its respectable 6.6% ABV and providing a vague, paradoxical description of its origin that ultimately tells me nothing about what’s inside. But we’re not here to review labels, which is good because the odd turquoise and magenta color scheme, while certainly eye-catching, doesn’t do much to tell me what I’m in for. The aroma, though, promises sweet citrusy hops of the juicy variety, laden with all those wonderful tropical notes that are oddly more pronounced in beers made in New England than in anything produced around the equator.

It’s a hazy beast to be sure — downright opaque in a sandy sort of color. The lacing is thick and sticky, leaving more of a crown around the edge of the glass. It looks incredibly thick, which isn’t something you’d expect from an IPA, but I wonder if it’s not just that I’m used to everything being cloudy lately.

First sip tells me this is indeed a juicy IPA. The flavor leans heavily toward a kind of kiwi-mango citrus spectrum, and I’m wondering if perhaps there shouldn’t be a tiny paper umbrella sticking out of the top. This is a downright pleasure to drink. Rather than small, careful sips to carefully analyze every bit of flavor, I’m enjoying great mouthfuls that saturate my palate with flavors associated with warm weather. And my fears of it being thick or heavy were completely unfounded, as the sweet malt is neither overpowering, nor lost behind the hoppy stars of the show. It’s bright, effervescent and satisfying. Maybe I’m just eager for warm sunshine and cloudless skies, but I’d be lying if I said my disposition wasn’t significantly sunnier now.