Belt’s Beer Garden: I Can See Clearly Now

Mother Road’s Limited Visibility – a clean and crushable hazy IPA

If you take Route 66 through Flagstaff, Arizona you’ll find Mother Road Brewing. The brewery, which opened up in November of 2011, took their name from John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, in which he referred to Route 66 as “the mother road”.

Mother Road is now Arizona’s third largest independent brewery and can be found across the state and on Drizly.

Today I have their Limited Visibility, a hazy IPA brewed with Cashmere, Motueka, and Strata hops (according to their website. However, Untappd has a different list of hops, so I’m not sure which is correct). Each pint has a 7.2% ABV and a rating of 62 IBU. The cost of a single 16-ounce can was $4 while a four pack was a bit cheaper, at $13.

Limited Visibility poured a cloudy golden straw color with just under two fingers of fluffy, dense eggshell white head topping the brew. The foam took forever to dissipate but, when it finally did, it laced the sides of the glass nicely.

The aroma was straight up tropical fruit. Massive notes of mango, papaya, and grapefruit give off super juicy notes. Some juicy grapefruit and orange also appeared in the scent while a light flaked grain backing offered some cereal-esque qualities. All that added up to a very inviting, very delicious smell.

My first sip started with a super creamy and heavier mouthfeel. The pillowy soft beer quickly brought forth a small hoppy bite and some of those tropical flavors from the smell. Grapefruit led the way with mango and papaya notes quickly following.

Those three fruit flavors dominated most of the tasting but, midway through, the grist hits with some flaked wheat notes. However, the grain flavors were quickly overpowered by the hops and tropical fruits.

As the sip progressed, those juicy grapefruit and orange flavors from the beginning began to turn more pithy and added a slight bitter twinge to the brew.

From there, everything began to fade away. Limited Visibility finished quite cleanly with just a slight grapefruit aftertaste and a dash of dryness.

The 7.2% ABV was never noticeable and, although it claims to have 62 IBU, it drinks much, much smoother than that. It’s a very crushable beer but the heavier aspect of it makes Limited Visibility much harder to slam. Which is good because it meant I got to enjoy it for a longer period of time.

This was my first beer from Mother Road but it certainly won’t be my last. Their hazy IPA stood out as one of the better beers I’ve had from the Copper State. It’s a bit on the heavier side but the flavors are all there.