Bent Paddle Brewing Co. has released Cosmic Lounge, a Hazy IPA the brewery says pulls its inspiration from the heavens. The beer is built around Strata, Citra, and Sultana hops.
The brewery describes the combination as producing a dank, passionfruit, citrus profile. Bent Paddle frames the beer around a "sip under the stars" idea, and the hop selection backs that up: Strata and Sultana both lean toward heavier, resinous fruit character, while Citra rounds things out with brighter citrus.
Thinking about the hops and flavor profile
Strata has a reputation as one of the more polarizing modern hop varieties, often described as dank or even cannabis-adjacent alongside its fruit notes, and pairing it with Sultana's stone-fruit sweetness and Citra's more familiar citrus gives the blend a wider range than a single-hop hazy would. At 32 IBUs, there's enough bitterness in the background to keep that fruit-forward blend from reading as one-dimensional, which is a reasonable balance point for a beer built to be sipped slowly rather than knocked back.
Cosmic Lounge comes in at 6.3 percent ABV and is available now at Bent Paddle's Duluth taproom, one of three new releases the brewery announced together this month.
Source & Editorial
JollyPint independently prepares release articles using information published by breweries through newsletters, websites, and other official public communications. Brewery-supplied descriptions and tasting notes are reported as provided, while editorial context is added by JollyPint.