Dust off your glasses and bring your bricks back from Bremerton because this week, we have a brand-new brewery on Happy Every Hour. Welcome and salutations to Ration Ale (Rationale) Brewing. Hailing from California and full of that chill West Coast attitude, Rationale has a pretty relatable philosophy to us here at The Sober Curator. From their website:

Culture may try to define the drinking rules, but we couldn’t care less.
We make our own rules. And we live in the now.
Because today is a damn good day, and we’ll crush it however we want.

With a line of four brews, we’re starting with what we can only assume is their flagship beer: West Coast IPA. With any West Coast IPA, we can expect some of them sweet, dank buds. By buds, of course, I mean hops, but they do smell a lot like weed in California, so that’s a thing. Citra hops usually bring in some tropical notes, while the hint of pine may keep us in the greenery, so let’s see how Rationale follows (or breaks) the rules.

At the first crack of the can, Rationale provides a hint of things to come from their West Coast IPA with a small aroma of citrus. The beer pours a beautiful mix of yellow and amber, but still far from the copper color you may expect. Rationale, like most other NA breweries, seems to continue the trend of NA beers having a lighter color palate. The real trick is whether or not Rationale matches the expectations in taste, so raise your glass (not a P!nk reference).

When the slight smell of citrus seeps into your scent center as you drink, your mouth may be surprised with what’s to come. The light color and Citra hop aroma are quickly shot down by the hoppiness that creeps around the inside of your mouth. Rationale comes through with the traditional West Coast IPA flavor and gives you some of those earthy pine notes to make the hops hit the sides of your tongue with that dank scent personified into a flavor you may be very used to. Unfortunately, the mouthfeel matches the color with a light, crisp finish, where I usually prefer a more lingering hop-filled heaviness with my West Coast IPAs.

Untappd gives West Coast IPA by Rationale a 3.5 out of 5. I agree with that. The flavor is good, and you get no wort or burnt malt flavor with some of the losers in this category. I would have liked some stronger hop flavor and a deeper color, but I’ll settle for above-average flavor and a wonderful mission statement. Find out for yourself by ordering online, or go to a store and demand it without committing a crime or referring to the demand as a ransom cause that would be illegal.

HAPPY VERY HOUR – NA BEERS & 90s: Sober Curator Contributor Justin Lamb is dedicated to tasting great (and sometimes not so great) NA beers and showcasing his amazing collection of memorabilia from the ’80s & ’90s. His beer mug is full, there’s just no booze in it. TRIGGER WARNING: People in early sobriety may want to proceed with caution. Always read labels. Please hydrate responsibly … because drunk never looks good.