Suke Quto Coffee IPA - The Kernel Brewery

woosterbill

Connecticut

4.8/5  rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5

12oz bottle of Batch 2 (I guess no one ever got around to reviewing Batch 1), purchased at the brewery and poured into a wine glass. Coffee IPA, huh? What could go wrong?

A: Pours a slightly hazy, bright orange-amber body with a finger of very fine off-white head. Ok retention and spotty lace. Looks like an IPA, and a pretty attractive one at that.

S: Crazy. Coffee jumps out first, but is immediately tempered with bitter, grapefruit + piney hoppiness. Some sweet, caramel and toasty malt comes in on the back side, providing the whole aroma with a tantalizing sense of coffee cake - coffee cake with grapefruit icing. It's really weird, but really good.

T: Holy smokes. What a beer. It has all the hoppiness of a great West Coast IPA, all the coffee of a delicious coffee stout, and all the crispness of beer with nowhere near its ABV. Pithy grapefruit hits my tongue first, followed closely by an even mix of coffee and caramel. The coffee steadily gains ground, eventually providing all the length, depth, and dryness one could wish for on the aftertaste. Wow.

M: Medium body with soft, moderate carbonation. Very nice indeed.

O: This is unlike anything I've tasted before, and I can't believe it's taken this long. I know what my next homebrew will be. Every beer I drink from The Kernel just keeps getting better than the last. Seriously, how does no one know about this?

Cheers!

Serving type: bottle

06-02-2011 22:30:59 | More by woosterbill