The brightest bottle in the beer aisle! From my understanding, things went down like this: a few months ago, Laurelwood found itself in the midst of a hops-sourcing dilemma. Simcoe hops spiked in popularity, and availability thereof immediately plummeted. Workhorse, Laurelwood's incredibly-popular (and my personal favorite!) IPA leaned heavily on both Simcoe and Amarillo, another floral, piney, and suddenly unavailable hops variety. Shit. And so, as the entire city of Portland braced for the impact of a Workhorse-free existence, the intrepid brewers at Laurelwood introduced a substitute: a bright, floral, creamy IPA known as Gearhead; a beer quite analogous to the Workhorse, but with citrusy grapefruit hops holding down Simcoe's spot in the hops profile. And it was good. Gearhead pours a cloudy yellow color with a decent-sized head which coats the glass in lacing. It smells floral, hoppy, and delicious. The taste is very hop-forward, and while I do miss that unmistakable Simcoe piney-ness, this profile is also remarkably good. Light malts round out a perfectly-balanced IPA. Simcoe has since returned, though, and in return so has the Workhorse, though not in bottles yet. I'm curious as to whether or not the Gearhead will stick around as well. While the Gearhead is a fantastic IPA and could easily stand and be judged on it's own merits, it is also incredibly similar to a beer that is already widely known and loved by thousands of devoted Laurelwood fans, myself included. And while Gearhead definitely filled a gap left by Workhorse's absence, I'm not sure how many folks will prefer to pick it up once both bottles are on the shelves again side-by-side. But again: this beer was delicious, and is one of the best balanced, tastiest bottles of IPA you can get in Oregon right now, at least in my opinion, Simcoe or not. Cheers!