Here’s another great beer from platform Brewing that I got from the legendary Beer professor himself, Dave Coulter: Speed Merchant White IPA. I’ll confess that as a rule, I’m not a big fan of White IPAs. Really, only one has ever jumped out at me and truly captured the essence of a Belgian Wit and an India Pale Ale, and that beer is Saranac White IPA. It was really one of the first “White IPAs” I tried, but to this day I’ve never had better.

After enjoying Speed Merchant White IPA (and I did enjoy it) Saranac still reigns supreme in my book, though that said you’ll be happy to know that Speed merchant is wonderful and delicious in its own right. The beer is sold in cans and at the brewery pub; the canned product is actually brewed and packaged under contract by Cleveland’s Gypsy Brewing.

One thing about Platform, they’re never short on telling you what goes into making their beers, and a lot goes into making their beers for sure.

Malts: Maris Otter, Pale Wheat, flaked wheat, Caracrystal wheat

Hops: Citra, Nelson, Simcoe, Columbus, Amarillo

Yeast: American Ale

Platform Speed Merchant White IPA has an alcohol content of 6.6% by volume with 66 IBUs. The can label tells us to expect citrus, tropical and pine notes, which makes sense to me from the hops used.

Platform Speed Merchant White IPA pours to a hazy orange amber color with a thick unruly head and a vibrant juicy fruit gum tropical nose with a hint of resin. I did notice lots of yeast sediment floating in my glass. Taking a sip, the beer has a medium caramel maltiness up front with more resin in the palate than the tropical fruit in the nose. The beer finishes piney and resiny and ends very bitter with pronounced grapefruit pith and rind and a long dry bitter finish. What I don’t get are any “white” notes, though and there is no mention of coriander or orange peel, so not sure why they call this “white” IPA aside from the wheat malts.

I give Platform Speed Merchant White IPA 4 ½ stars hedonistically, it’s just a lovely beer all around, less ½ star as a white IPA. Were this beer sold in Georgia, I’d be picking up a six-pack of it for sure. If its sold in your area, why don’t you get one today?

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