Tag Archives: ipa

4 - Good (buy), American IPA, Beer Reviews, Cigar City Brewing, USA

Cigar City Jai Alai White Oak Aged

Wednesday, 23 December 2015 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Cigar City Brewing
Country: USA
ABV: 7.5%
Style: American IPA
Other Notes: 70 IBUs

Brewer Description: (from can) This is an American oak aged version of Jai Alai. The oak adds smoothing notes of vanilla and slight hints of dill to the aroma and flavour profile. The finish is elegantly dry due to the light tannin notes from oak aging and though still loaded with hop flavour, hop bitterness is more restrained.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.19
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 12 fl oz can with a canned on date of 17th November 2015 and poured into a Spiegelau IPA glass.
Appearance: It poured a clear golden orange colour with a two finger white head with lots of stringy lacing.
Aroma: Tropical mango, pineapple and peach with some citrus grapefruit followed by hints of vanilla and dill.
Taste: Strong vanilla and oak upfront with mango and peach supporting and hints of grapefruit.
Mouthfeel: Dry, medium bodied with light carbonation.
Overall: I have not tried the original base IPA yet as I haven’t been able to get my hands on any. However, although this is not the first barrel aged IPA that I’ve tried, I haven’t tasted any beer like this one before. The tropical fruit taste mixed with vanilla was interesting and a refreshing change.

4 - Good (buy), Amager Bryghus, American IPA, Beer Reviews, Denmark

Amager Winter In Bangalore

Tuesday, 22 December 2015 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Amager Bryghus
Country: Denmark
ABV: 6%
Style: American IPA
Other Notes: Malts – Pilsner, Munich and Carapils. Hops – Herkules, Chinook, Amarillo and Cascade.

Brewer Description: (from bottle) [in Danish] Når vintermørket ubønhørligt sænker sig over det ganske land, og danskerne gemmer sig i tykke klæder og trækker de mentale rullegardiner ned, så er det helt legitimt at flygte lidt ind i drømme om bedre, varmere og lysere tider og steder. Vores Vinter IPA er en hyldest til netop sådan et sted, som året rundt kækt hygger sig med sine behagelige 25 grader – kun afbrudt af et par forrygende snebyger. Tror vi nok. Smag på navnet – Bangalore. Indiens spraglede og krydrede mystik nærmest strømmer op i næseborene – akkurat som den bedste indiske aromahumle vi har brugt i denne øl, dyrket netop i smukke Bangalores opland.
Vi har specialdesignet denne intenst delikate Vinter IPA til at passe til AL vinterens mad – lige fra æbleskiver, og stegte sild over gule ærter til den fedeste gås eller steg med brun sovs. Selv veganere og palæo-folket har vi testet den på – og hver og en brød de ud i lovsang. Det gør du også. Vi garanterer.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.05
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 500ml bottle from Batch No. 949 with a best before date of January 2016. Poured into a Spiegelau IPA glass.
Appearance: It poured a cloudy golden straw yellow colour with a huge four finger fluffy white head that sticks around for a while and leaves nice spotty lacing.
Aroma: A mix of citrusy lemon and grapefruit plus a tropical element like passion fruit, pineapple and a hint of mango.
Taste: Starts slightly sweet with some light caramel malts followed quickly with a blast of bitter grapefruit. The finish is quite tropical with a lasting pineapple and mango flavours along with hints of honey.
Mouthfeel: Crisp, medium bodied with medium to high carbonation.
Overall: Overall a nice IPA that is easy to drink. The bitterness is moderate as the tropicalness really comes through here.

4 - Good (buy), American IPA, Beer Reviews, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, USA

Sierra Nevada Hop Hunter IPA

Thursday, 10 December 2015 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Sierra Nevada Brewing Company
Country: USA
ABV: 6.2%
Style: American IPA
Other Notes: 60 IBUs. Brewed with farm distilled hop oil.

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Hop Hunter IPA is the first beer to feature oil from wet hops steam distilled directly in the field, minutes after harvest. We use this pure, powerful hop essence in concert with whole-cone hops in our brew kettle and in our Hop Torpedo to create the ultimate IPA experience.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.32
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 12 fl oz bottle with a packaged date of 10th August 2015 and poured into a short stemmed wine glass.
Appearance: It poured a nice slightly hazy golden colour with lots of nice upward streaming bubbles and a one finger white head that dissipates fairly quickly leaving some spotty lacing.
Aroma: Fruity tropical aromas of peach, pineapple and mango. In the background, there is a bready, grainy maltiness.
Taste: Starts bitter, piney, with some citrus lemon and grapefruit and a nice lemon tea finish.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with medium carbonation
Overall: A very nice IPA that I could drink over and over again. Hopefully it will officially make an appearance in Hong Kong soon.

2 - Maybe (likely wouldn't buy, might drink), American IPA, Beer Reviews, Garage Project, New Zealand

Garage Project Trip Hop

Sunday, 6 December 2015 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Garage Project
Country: New Zealand
ABV: 5.6%
Style: American IPA
Other Notes: Malts – Carahelles, Vienna and Caraaroma. Hops – Pacifica, Motueka and Riwaka.

Brewer Description: (from bottle) We love NZ hops. How much? Here’s how much. Triple hopped with, Pacifica, Motueka and Riwaka hops in increasingly lavish quantities throughout the boil, Trip Hop’s bitter but balanced on a generous malt base. Rich amber red and redolent of the Nelson hop fields. Think easy drinking for resin heads and pucker up.

My rating: 2
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.15
My ratebeer.com rating: 3

Intro: A 650ml bottle with a best before date of 9th January 2016, poured into a Spiegelau IPA glass.
Appearance: It poured a slightly hazy copper amber colour with a two finger cream coloured head that dissipated slowly leaving lots of stringy lacing.
Aroma: Citrusy orange and lemon, bready malts, grapefruit. There’s also some pine and flowery hops.
Taste: Taste is malty, bready, light caramel and sweet-ish before the hops kick in and gives a lasting bitterness.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with light crisp carbonation.
Overall: More malty and less hoppy than I expected considering its triple hopped. A little disappointing but GP have a lot of other good offerings and for IPAs, I prefer their Garagista IPA.

4 - Good (buy), American IPA, Beer Reviews, Garage Project, New Zealand

Garage Project Garagista IPA

Friday, 4 December 2015 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Garage Project
Country: New Zealand
ABV: 5.8%
Style: American IPA

Brewer Description: (from can) Embrace the Garagista spirit – ignore convention, experiment, test the limits, and look at things a little differently. Brewed and double dry hopped with New Zealand, Australian and US hops. Great things can come from the garage.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.01
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 330ml can with a best before date of 23rd December 2015 and poured into a Spiegelau IPA glass.
Appearance: Poured a slightly hazy orangey amber colour with a one finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly leaving good amounts of lacing.
Aroma: Mainly a fruity tropical and citrus mix. There’s tropical passionfruit and pineapple along with citrus orange and grapefruit. There’s also a hint of grass.
Taste: Light mango and passionfruit followed by some strong grapefruit bitterness, pine, grass and a hint of sweet malts.
Mouthfeel: Medium to full bodied with medium carbonation.
Overall: A solid IPA from Garage Project. Although this is my first GP review, I have quite a few other bottles of their beers that I look forward to trying.

words of another dreamy traveller