Oooohweeeee! Did I just have a sip of flower water? 

I really don’t know if I should say any more about this beer I just cracked open. I’ve had other beers from this brewery and enjoyed them all, but the love fest ends here. This reminds me of old lady perfume.

OK, I feel I have to give it up now that I’ve disparaged it – Hop Syndrome from Epic Brewing of Denver. The style is “Pils Lager,” brewed “with a blend of rare hops resulting in notes of citrus and subtle hints of ‘sweet tart candy’,” according to the can label.

Sweet tart candy I would welcome, but this reminds me of a Raymond Chandler line in The Big Sleep, when Marlowe goes to visit the cloistered General Sternwood in his hothouse, “larded with the cloying smell of tropical orchids in bloom.”

This beer is one big cloying floral aroma and flavor, but not orchids. It’s a purple flower – either lavender or lilac. Can’t quite put my finger on it, but it is so strongly imbued with something floral that I don’t think I can take another sip. I hope my jade plant is thirsty.

But I can’t leave it at that. We need less negativity in this world, not more. So I wanted to give Epic another shot by cracking open a can of Escape to Colorado IPA. 

It pours a hazy gold with a delicate white head, and it tastes quite nice. It’s brewed with Mosaic hops, which provide a zesty zing of citrus, herbal and floral notes, with the acidy high notes of the citrus dominating to the end of the long finish. Even the floral part might be orange blossom. It’s a very juicy 6.2 percent IPA.

As someone who is rarely impressed – in fact, often depressed – by clumsy American IPAs, I surprise myself with how much I enjoy this beer.