Falconer’s IPA from Widmer Brothers is the latest in their “Rotator IPA” series, the company’s experimental IPA line, and is just hitting the shelves now. (You’ll recall that I received two sample bottles of Falconer’s two week back.) It’s a 7% abv IPA made with Falconer’s Flight™ hops, a proprietary hop strain developed to honor the late Glen Falconer.

More importantly, as Widmer posted on their Facebook page about this beer:

Glen Falconer was passionate about friends, family and great IPAs. So in tribute, we’ve created an IPA worthy of this master brewer. Using Falconer’s Flight hops, a unique blend of traditional and experimental hops created by HopUnion LLC in honor of a Glen himself, this brew a moderately bitter IPA with stonefruit aromas and and a strong malt backbone. We think Glen would approve. 7.0% ABV, 65 IBU.

HopUnion donates proceeds from the sale of the hops to the Glen Falconer Foundation, which provides scholarships to professional and aspiring NW brewers. Widmer Brothers Brewing is also donating to the Foundation, helping the Foundation to send additional brewers to perfect their craft. For more information, visit http://www.glenfalconerfoundation.org/.

Appearance: Clear and orange, very bright, with a thick, light tan head.

Smell: “Flossy” hops in that they have a sweet sugary presence (reminding me of cotton candy) and a touch catty. Rich, fruity with mango or passionfruit infusing it.

Taste: Rich and sweet tempered by a bit of roast and a fruity, punch bitterness. It has that same sugary-cotton-candy character from the hose, melded with the fruity (tropical) hoppiness. Really nice flavors, pleasant on the tongue, and mellow for a 7% beer.

Mouthfeel: Medium-full-bodied, with a nice sticky-but-clean hop finish, and then a sweet streak in the very end.

Overall: This is really quite a nice IPA, sweet and fruity, but not cloyingly so and definitely nicely hoppy. Worth seeking out.