Bitterness Isn’t Dead Yet

Track Brewing’s Beginner’s Mind delivers a masterclass in modern West Coast IPA.

Calling a 7.2% double dry-hopped West Coast IPA “Beginner’s Mind” is a bit like handing a rookie a set of ropes and pointing them at Everest. If this is your first brush with modern craft beer, you’re not just dipping a toe in—you’re cannonballing into the deep end. But after a few sips, the name clicks. This beer is a nudge to see old favourites with new eyes, to remember why we fell for IPA before it became a badge of allegiance and every pint came with a side of online debate.

Track Brewing have earned the right to make that kind of statement. In the last decade, they’ve gone from railway arch upstarts to Manchester legends, helping turn the city into a beer lover’s playground. The story starts with Sam Dyson, who peddled his way around the world and came back with a head full of American craft beer dreams and a taste for adventure. Track’s roots are still tangled up in that spirit of discovery—beer as a passport, a ticket to somewhere new.

You can taste that wanderlust in every sip of Beginner’s Mind.

West Coast IPA is having one of its comebacks. After years of haze ruling the IPA world—cloudy, juicy, and Instagram-ready—drinkers are remembering the joys of bitterness, crispness, and clarity. But the best of today’s West Coast IPAs aren’t just nostalgia trips. They borrow the hop wizardry and aroma tricks from the hazy crowd and paint them onto a sharper, cleaner canvas.

That’s exactly the tightrope Track are walking here.

Beginner’s Mind pours a glowing gold that almost looks out of place next to all those hazy, smoothie-like IPAs. There’s just a hint of mist, a little nod to modern times, but mostly it’s clear and proud of it. The head is crisp and white, hanging around just long enough to leave its mark down the glass.

The aroma hits you before the glass even gets close. It’s a wild mash-up of hops from every corner of the globe. Citra Dyna Boost, Motueka Cryo, Riwaka, Simcoe, Nelson Sauvin, Nelson Sauvin SubZero Hop Kief—it reads more like a jazz festival line-up than a hop bill.

But somehow, it all just works.

First up: lime zest and a hit of fresh orange. Then the tropical parade rolls in—pineapple, mango, the works. Give it a moment and the New Zealand hops start to strut: gooseberry, white grape, a little Sauvignon Blanc swagger but never tipping into full-on wine territory. Underneath it all, Simcoe keeps things grounded with pine, resin, and just a whisper of that dank, green edge.

One sip and you know Track weren’t kidding when they called this beer dry as a desert.

The malt is playing backup here—just enough structure to let the hops take the spotlight. For a 7.2% IPA, the body is shockingly light. Most beers at this strength are heavyweights, but Beginner’s Mind is all lean muscle.

The flavours are choreographed with real precision. Citrus kicks things off—lime front and centre, orange pith right behind, adding a bittersweet twist. Tropical fruit sneaks in mid-palate, but never hijacks the show. This isn’t a fruit salad in a glass. The fruitiness always feels rooted in the hops, not just tossed in for effect.

Then comes the finish.

And what a finish.

Bitterness is almost an endangered species in some modern IPAs, so when it shows up done right, it’s a jolt. Beginner’s Mind doesn’t just finish bitter—it finishes with purpose. The bitterness is bold, sticks around, and is pure West Coast, but never gets harsh. It’s more like a palate reset, sweeping away the fruit and daring you to take another sip.

That’s the trick here. At 7.2%, this should be a slow, contemplative sipper. Instead, the dryness and bitterness make it dangerously easy to keep reaching for the glass, long after you know you probably shouldn’t.

What really stands out is the balance. Every part of this beer is working together—the sharp citrus, the tropical fruit, the white grape from Nelson Sauvin, the pine, the lean malt, the crisp bitterness. Nothing’s here just to tick a trend box. It all fits.

The name kept echoing as I drank. In Zen philosophy, beginner’s mind is all about curiosity and openness, no matter how much you know. That’s exactly what Track have done here—taken a classic style and looked at it with fresh eyes, not stuck in the past or weighed down by rules.

The result? A beer that nods to everything IPA has become in the last decade, but refuses to be boxed in by it. You get all the big aromas today’s drinkers crave, plus the clarity, backbone, and bitterness that made West Coast IPA a legend.

Beginner’s Mind isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel. It’s doing something trickier—reminding you why the wheel was genius in the first place.

By the time I’d finished the can, I was already plotting my next one. For an IPA, that’s about as high as my praise gets.