We have to be careful when writing about IPAs from Hargreaves Hill. We mistook a joke about the name of the Topaz and Amarillo IPA from 2011 as serious which resulted in parts of the beer world thinking it was indeed called Melanie. So just to be certain, this one is called the C4, not 4C IPA. So called because it contains four hop varieties that begin with the letter C - Citra, Columbus, Centennial and Chinook - and also in a nod to the IRA's explosive of preference in its 20th century campaign against the British Government, presumably as it's a hop bomb. That said, while it is bursting with those piney, citrusy notes you'd expect from such hops - and possesses a resiny character in the mouth - it's far from explosive. Instead it's all under control, with the malt backbone holding everything in check, the bitterness firm but not overbearing and the result yet another addition to Hargreaves fine arsenal of beers.
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