Switchback IPA - Lighthouse Brewing Company

hreb

Washington

4.03/5  rDev -2.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.5

12oz bottle (355 mL) served in pint glass. Beer pours a clear pale amber with a thin white head. Fresh, cascadey aroma.

Beer is dead on with a load of alpha acid and citrusy goodness. As the ABV would indicate, this is a pretty big beer -- a healthy balance in between a west coast IPA and a double/imperial IPA. Mouthfeel is relatively thin in terms of weight, which works well with the moderate carbonation and hop-forward style. Overall I am very pleased.

Serving type: bottle

03-27-2012 23:53:16 | More by hreb

biboergosum

Alberta (Canada)

4.1/5  rDev -1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

16oz pint at Three Boars on a pleasant Monday evening.

This beer appears a clear, medium golden amber hue, with a thin cap (no worries, I always appreciate a decent pour - kudos, Chuck!) of thinly foamy, yet faintly creamy off-white head, which leaves a few sparse instances of streaky lace around the glass as things sink away.

It smells of grapefruit and orange peel, caramel cream, fairly bitter pine resin, a bit of stale lemon, and a soft green earthiness. The taste is a surprising uptick in the bitterness, spread deftly across a somewhat tropical fruitiness - grapefruit, papaya, and mandarin orange - with further dank pine needles propping things up, before slowing ceding minor control to a simple, and softly bready caramel malt. That indistinct drying earthiness hangs out a bit as well.

The carbonation is a tad frothy at times, but generally low-key in its support, the body just on the lee side of medium weight, and mostly smooth, the hops nicking in here and there. It finishes off-dry, a wee bit surprisingly, as the now musty caramel malt benefits from the (well) spent-seeming nature of the hops.

A rather enjoyable bitter, fruity Yankee IPA, whose grace stems from its ability to convince me from the outset that this is a truly balanced affair. Sessionable? Sure - unless all the other patrons ordering it around me drain the keg first (and at 8 bones a pop at that).

Serving type: on-tap

05-14-2013 01:36:18 | More by biboergosum

ericj551

British Columbia (Canada)

4/5  rDev -3.4%

05-07-2013 04:24:12 | More by ericj551

604growler

British Columbia (Canada)

4/5  rDev -3.4%

04-27-2013 23:37:57 | More by 604growler

smekermann

British Columbia (Canada)

3.75/5  rDev -9.4%

02-08-2013 10:15:42 | More by smekermann

JonnyBeers

British Columbia (Canada)

4.5/5  rDev +8.7%

01-11-2013 19:03:21 | More by JonnyBeers

cbnz

British Columbia (Canada)

3.75/5  rDev -9.4%

01-09-2013 01:16:36 | More by cbnz

KalanM

British Columbia (Canada)

4.25/5  rDev +2.7%

11-29-2012 02:33:10 | More by KalanM

thefullpython

3.75/5  rDev -9.4%

10-31-2012 10:10:46 | More by thefullpython

robuncorked

4.5/5  rDev +8.7%

10-18-2012 20:55:24 | More by robuncorked

ChuckGnarly

British Columbia (Canada)

4.25/5  rDev +2.7%

09-25-2012 03:16:45 | More by ChuckGnarly

rodrigueZflyingf0x

British Columbia (Canada)

4/5  rDev -3.4%

07-06-2012 06:24:34 | More by rodrigueZflyingf0x

liamt07

Ontario (Canada)

4.03/5  rDev -2.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Bottle from Rutager, 12oz into a tulip.

Clear orange with a nice two finger white head. Nice retention and lacing. Nose has some light citrus, pale malt and a light pineiness. Taste has some solid citrus flavours, and a light earthy/piney bitterness. Lightly sweet bready malt. Medium feel, fairly notable bitterness. A solid IPA.

Serving type: bottle

06-30-2012 04:23:02 | More by liamt07

papat444

Quebec (Canada)

3.73/5  rDev -9.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

From notes accumulated since the birth of Zoe.

Thanks to chickenm for this one.

Poured from a 355ml. bottle.

Appearance: Mostly clear with a slight chilled haze on a yellow-gold body. Eggshell white head that is easily 4 fingers and slowly recedes but not less than a fat finger. Some hanging lacing.

Smell: Fresh fruit, hops, melon, sweet mango and light pineapple. Very powerful aroma.

Taste: Starts a bit tame with some grapefruit, nothing strong then segues into a peach syrup flavor. Strong biscuity malt upfront kind of overshadows the hops. Gets better as it warms as some spiciness and plush orange appear.

Mouthfeel: Very balanced but maybe a bit too conservative? The finish is nice and the overall feel is crisp.

Overall: Don't drink this one too cold or you might miss some nuances. A good IPA but for me, not top tier.

Serving type: bottle

06-27-2012 23:01:50 | More by papat444

TheSevenDuffs

Ontario (Canada)

3.98/5  rDev -3.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Thanks to Rutager for this bottle. No freshness info apparent. Poured in to Bruery tulip.

A - Light to medium orange. Translucent. One finger of cream coloured head that reduced to a thin layer.

S - Nice mix of citrus and tropical fruit. Grapefruit, peach, mango and tangerine. A very slight sweetness is present.

T - Sharp bitterness up front with grapefruit, pine and tangerine notes. The tropical fruit from the nose doesn't translate to the palate. A trace of malt sweetness is present in the background.

M - Medium body with moderate carbonation.

Serving type: bottle

06-10-2012 19:50:19 | More by TheSevenDuffs

oldp0rt

Quebec (Canada)

4/5  rDev -3.4%

06-09-2012 05:40:44 | More by oldp0rt

bumchilly25

British Columbia (Canada)

4.25/5  rDev +2.7%

05-09-2012 02:13:06 | More by bumchilly25

beerhaver

4.5/5  rDev +8.7%

05-08-2012 03:03:36 | More by beerhaver

beertunes

Washington

3.4/5  rDev -17.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Thanks to DaftCaskBC for hooking me up with this one a couple weeks ago. Poured into straight pint glass. Poured a lightly hazy golden straw yellow color, with about a half inch of off-white head that had medium light retention and light lacing.

The aroma was pine hops upfront, with some grapefruit/citrus notes behind that. There wasn't much grain or malt in the aroma. On the tongue, the pine hops again grabbed your attention first, with the citrus notes following along. There was just enough malt to notice on the taste buds. The beer had a lingering bitter-grapefruit finish.

The body was fairly typical for the style, although a bit thinner than i personally prefer. Drinkability was good, if you're a hop head, you could easily drain several of these. Overall, a very nice take on the style. Nothing earth-shattering or groundbreaking, just a pretty good take on a favorite style for a lot of folks. Certainly trying if you see it, and probably worth setting up a trade for.

Serving type: bottle

04-29-2012 18:56:46 | More by beertunes

chickenm

British Columbia (Canada)

4.5/5  rDev +8.7%

04-26-2012 01:41:41 | More by chickenm

pudoo

British Columbia (Canada)

4.5/5  rDev +8.7%

04-17-2012 01:32:04 | More by pudoo

wordemupg

Alberta (Canada)

4.18/5  rDev +1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

355ml bottle poured into tulip 12/4/12

A golden yellow with a thumbs width of off white head doesn't last all that long but leaves lace where it existed

S tropical notes, tangerine, pineapple, guava, mango, gooseberry (avec chat tinkle) the list keeps going, floral with a little pine, smells like a sexy West Coast IPA too me

T whats listed above but less tropical flesh, more rind and pine with some earthy hops, still very solid but I preferred the nose

M perfect carbonation, bitter for sure but not enamel stripping, flavors linger of citric rind for quite a while, pretty solid here

O a big winner in my books, 4.25 would be useful here for taste and feel so overall scores adjusting accordingly, somewhat balanced and I'm loving the hop profile

When this one popped up on the Canadian top 100 my interest was sparked for sure, when it showed up in a box from the most generous Rutager I now understand why. This one would be in my fridge on a constant basis if I could buy it in this part of the world.

Serving type: bottle

04-13-2012 03:14:26 | More by wordemupg

FondueVoodoo

British Columbia (Canada)

4.23/5  rDev +2.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A: Pours with barely a finger of white head that dissipates to a thin ring round the glass. Interesting pumpkin orange, clear and very low on bubbly carbonation.

S: Piney wet wood, with grapefruit rind and hints of pineapple.

T: Taste pops with hoppy bitterness. Similar to the smell, the taste starts strong with woodsy pine resins and white grapefruit rind. There's a funkiness of wet earth, if you know the Pacific North West you may get a taste reminiscent of a wet PNW morning.

M: For the lack of carbonation in the glass there seems to be a prick of carbonation in the mouth. Medium bodied nice to drink - not to thick not to thin.

O: Unlike Red Race IPA, there is no floral scent. Switchback rides heavy on the woodsy taste and smell. If Switchback and Red Racer IPA were perfumes, Switchback would be "for Him" and Red Racer would be "for Her". Excellent hoppy citrus/woody taste, I may actually have to change my preferred beer from dark Belgian ale to IPA.

Serving type: bottle

04-02-2012 03:08:43 | More by FondueVoodoo

Rutager

British Columbia (Canada)

4.43/5  rDev +7%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Appearance. Pours a very clear, rich yellow-gold with a bit of amber and a finger of white head.

Smell. Big, big hops. Tons of citrus, sweet pineapple, and a bit of grass and cedar.

Taste. Nice toasty malts and again big, big hops. Loads of citrus rinds and grapefruit juice. Not an excessively bitter finish, but the hops do linger a bit. Really nice.

Mouthfeel. Below medium in body, medium+ carbonation.

Overall. An awesome ipa. Instant addition to the regular local rotation.

Serving type: bottle

04-01-2012 01:01:16 | More by Rutager

dazdave

Ohio

4.35/5  rDev +5.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Excelllent beer served on tap at alibi room in Vancouver. Not picking much up smell wise besides citrusy grapefruit. Told this has a bunch of NZ hops. Whatever it is its quite delish. A well balanced beer. I get more of a dank tangerine profile going on. So the sips of this beer start off dry and bitter and finish with a slightly sweet nectarine oiliness. A very unique beer. Incredibly drinkable. Goes well with food too.

Serving type: on-tap

03-31-2012 22:33:37 | More by dazdave