Backlash Brewing: Hops Hops Hops

So recently I volunteered for Drink Craft Beer's Springfest, a celebration of hops, and I was lucky enough to be stationed at Helder Pimentel's table pouring Backlash beer. Full discloser, the first time I had a backlash beer (Declaration) I was pretty disappointed, with tons of hype behind a decent, but hardly spectacular beer, I was put behind a booth of beer I didn't know much else about. After some introductions I poured myself a quick refresher of Declaration and was amazed at how much crisper and fresher this beer was than I remembered, and frankly, how delicious it was. The 2 other beers on the docket for the night was Salute, Backlash's west coast double IPA and a cask condition version of Declaration with a dry hopped addition of Citra Hops to the cask. A few people came back for 2nds and 3rds and told me it was the best beer of the night. The only Problem? That beer existed for that night and that night only. So I'm gonna ramble a bit about a beer you can have.

Atlas Distribution seems like the red headed step child of the Massachusetts Beverage Alliance, with specialty cases rarely, if ever, making it's way into the tough sell market of the route 2 corridor of Massachusetts. So I was in absolute shock when a case of Backlash's Salute showed up at the back door of my work, West Concord Wine & Spirits. Salute was recently geeked out on by Gary Dzen in his excellent column, 99 Bottles, and rightfully so because the first taste of this beer is a fresh blast of hops right in my fucking face. 2 hops, 2 simple but effective hops,  Citra and Simcoe make this beer a complex combination of all things citrus and pine, with a nice residual sweetness balancing the bitterness all the way down. Strait off the tap and fresh, this beer is outstandingly crisp and a wash of all things hops, and so drinkable that being behind the booth might make for a dangerous evening. Luckily I laid off it long enough to stay standing all night. But that doesn't mean I'm not gonna grab a bottle and experience this beer again, cause it's more that worth it.