Alpine Duet - Pine or Citrus?

Alpine expanded its bottled beers this fall and now offers Duet and Nelson in the bottle. I picked up two bottles of Duet over the past week at Olive Tree Market (which was recently added to the select list of stores that sell Alpine beers). On draft, Alpine's Duet IPA is an amazing beer, but I was not too impressed with the first bottle I tried late last week. Its taste did not match my recollection of the draft version. I came away more impressed after having the second bottle last night and realize this is a superb IPA.

I thought Duet a piney IPA, but it's strange how perceptions vary, as the Beer Rovette tasted heavy citrus. As these are two prominent flavor profiles of an IPA, one of us is right. I checked BeerAdvocate's reviews, and citrus seems the flavor everyone associates with Duet. I obviously need another bottle to hone my palate. The sharp, piney (citrus?) taste took me off guard on the first bottle. But during the second bottle I came to really like the bitter, woodsy taste. I was impressed with Duet's meatiness, I felt like I could almost chew it. The full mouthful was appropriate for Duet's level hops and malt. I've had several weak mouthed beers lately and it was good to get a beer that stood up for itself. Duet is a unique beer that won't leave you struggling to discern small differences between it and other IPAs.