Because if you’re going to write your return blog entry—the first in over 7 months—why not lead off with a pun, right? Raleigh…rally…Raleigh…anyway.

These are two of several beers I picked up at a bottle shop on a recent-ish trip to Raleigh, North Carolina (though one is from the Winston-Salem area). Both are IPAs of wildly differing styles and flavors, so let’s get into it.

The first is from Raleigh’s Lynnwood (Grill and) Brewing Concern. Hop on Top is a West Coast-style IPA, and plays into the West Coast (read: Sierra Nevada) type incredibly well. 7% ABV, 55 IBU, the beer pours a hazy gold-to-orange color. The hop bite is present and massive, yet somehow doesn’t necessarily overwhelm the palate the way some beers in the style can. Perhaps the palate gets a reprieve from the slight juiciness in the mouthfeel and flavor profile that comes out of the grapefruit notes. Pine notes are also present, and the beer has a fairly dry finish. An intense but enjoyable IPA.

Next up, we check out Body Electric from Winston-Salem’s Wise Man Brewing. Body Electric goes for the stylistic word jumble of NE DIPA: a New England-style Double IPA. I had both of these beers over the course of an evening—more on that later—and feel that this one had a similar look to Hop on Top: hazy and a deep gold to maybe orange color. Frankly, I found the beer to be fairly mild overall (again, more later). There were some juicy notes, especially towards the back end of the drinking experience, and I also feel like I got some mild grassy or greeny notes. There was also a small amount of hop bite, and the flavor hung around for just a little while after drinking. As I said, I had this beer after the one above, but with a short-to-moderate break between the two. While there is certainly nothing wrong with this beer, I just felt it was lacking intensity. That lacking would likely have been more prominent if I had had these beers more back-to-back, so I feel I lucked out a bit there. If I had to rate Hop on Top a 10 in intensity, I would give Body Electric about a 6 or 7. Again, in no way unenjoyable. Just…a bit muted.