Deschutes Chainbreaker White IPA

A little backstory for everybody, I don't like Belgian style beers.  I have never acquired a taste for them and recently I realized why that was, it's the yeast.  To me a beer made with a Belgian yeast has a slightly-sweet, estery flavor about it that is just a little off.  New Belgium's Grand Cru and Elysian's Rapture are the only two examples I can think of that I actually enjoyed.

So last night I'm at one of the local watering holes enjoying their Taco Tuesday.  After consuming a Fort George Vortex IPA I asked the waitress what else they had on tap.  She named a couple of beers and mentioned Deschutes new Chainbreaker IPA.  Since Deschutes is pretty much my favorite brewery around I thought I'd check it out.  You can imagine my surprise when she serves me what looked like a Blue Moon complete with an orange slice.  Wait, what?

I drank the first half of my pint with no orange added to the mix.  It was one of the most enjoyable Belgians I have tried.  Which isn't saying too much.  I added the orange to mix halfway through my pint and I think it made the beer worse.  Don't fruit the beer!  (With the only exceptions to the rule being Corona's w/lime & Hefeweizen's w/lemon)  I think for Chainbreaker to really live up to the IPA status it needs more hops.  Some Cascade or Citra hops at the beginning of the boil would do wonders for this beer and not overpower the taste of the belgian yeast.

If you're a fan of both Belgians and IPAs I suggest you give the Chainbreaker a try.  As for me, I'll be sticking with the Red Chairs, Mirror Ponds and Inversions.