Shades for Daze

Ninety-six in the shade.

That's not a forecast, that's a mandate. When the mercury climbs that high on this rock, there's exactly one correct response, and it isn't standing up. It's finding the nearest hammock, letting your bones go slack, and not moving again until further notice. Our guy on the label figured this out a long time ago. He's not looking for shade because shade stopped working three degrees ago — he's just going to lay out and let it happen.

Shades for Daze is a crushable IPA strung up on a hammock woven from Citra, with El Dorado and Idaho 7 lashed in to keep the whole thing from sagging — juicy, dank, and built to hold your full weight for as long as you need it to. Then there's the shades themselves, dry-hopped with Nelson and Riwaka, because even a skeleton knows you don't lay out without eye protection. That combo is doing the heavy lifting on the nose and the finish both, throwing off big waves of orange gummy bear and grapefruit fruit cocktail cup before settling into a fruit punch finish that disappears embarrassingly fast for how hot it is.

It's tropical. It's horizontal. It's the only appropriate beer for a day with no shade left to give.

Grab a cold one and hammock on, friends.