Stowaway I.P.A. - Baxter Brewing Co.

dasenebler

Maine

2.03/5  rDev -47.8%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 1.5

12oz, canned 4/13/12. Very fresh.

Pours a hazy medium amber with a small off-white head. Retention and lacing are average.

The aroma is muffled for an IPA, with some piney, grassy hops. A bit off, but alright.

The flavor is messed-up. Either this beer is infected or has some strange yeast autolysis flavors. Exceedingly vegetal and bitter, with a weird, salty character. Toffeeish malts come through, adding to the mess. "Clean" is not a word I would use to describe this IPA, but at least there's some piney hop flavor in there. A touch astringent, with a drying, medium-bodied mouthfeel.

If the flavor weren't so bad, this would be a palatable beer. Baxter Brewing is all over the goddamn place. "We do what we can, we can what we do, and we CAN'T brew consistent beer."

Serving type: can

04-25-2012 21:11:40 | More by dasenebler

SpeedwayJim

New York

2.68/5  rDev -31.1%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

Thanks to BlessedBeBeer for this one. 12oz. can into a Heady Topper pint glass.

Pours a .5 finger powdery and sticky white head with decent retention. Beer is a clear, dark amber. Lacing is stringy and spotty with moderate stick. Average.

Nose is tea leaves, resin, and bitter caramel. Moerately aromatic but really lacking that tropical and citrus fruit scent that I crave here.

Opens dried tea leaves, resin bitterness, amber hop profile. Malt backbone is present but its deep instead of light and crisp. Caramel and coarse, almost bitter brown sugar at the end with more amber and resin hop bitterness. Finishes more dried leaves with a similar aftertaste. I understand what is going on here and what the brewer is going after. It's not bad but I'm not a fan.

Light to medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Bubbly and abrasive in the mouth and spritzy going down. Slightly dry and filmy finish with a long, lingering aftertaste. Fits the style of IPA.

This is neither east coast, nor west coast, nor midwest style IPA. There's near no tropical flavor and what is present instead is a amber-ale/mild tea leaf bitterness. But again, there's very little citrus or any other fruit profile. Not a bad beer but not at all my style.

Serving type: can

11-02-2011 23:21:58 | More by SpeedwayJim

HopHead84

California

2.73/5  rDev -29.8%
look: 4 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 2.5

12/11/2011

Can given to me by UncleJimbo at Pizza Port Strong Ale 2011, thanks! It's always nice to try something from a brewery I've never heard of, and I greatly appreciate the gift. Split with my fiancé, who wasn't ecstatic to be told we were drinking an IPA right when she was about to go to bed, but in the end she did her duty.

A: Dark orange and opaque with a finger of beige sea foam. Retention is good and lacing is scattered.

S: Well, this is very, very malty. Bread and biscuit notes are dominant, with a pervasive malty sweetness. There's a little sweet citrus hiding behind the monolithic malt foundation. There are light candied notes in there. This is not only malt dominant but the hops are also very feeble. Still, the malt smells pretty good. On the whole, it doesn't smell bad, it's just that it's definitely below average.

T: Sweet bready malt with biscuit and toasted notes. There's a touch of alcohol and diffident citrus. This is definitely an East Coast style IPA, though I can't say it's really IPAish. The finish is malty and sweet. Again, nothing particularly bad in the flavor, but it's below average on the IPA spectrum.

M: Medium body with upper moderate carbonation. The mouthfeel is sticky.

Overall: A lackluster malty IPA. I appreciate the chance to try it, but it's not at all what I'm looking for in the style.

Serving type: can

12-12-2011 05:18:02 | More by HopHead84

MusicaleMike

Pennsylvania

2.75/5  rDev -29.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2

I think the born on date on the can is 8-12-12, but that could be a 9-12-12. Nonetheless, it has been refrigerated since then, so should be fine.

Poured into a Lawsons glass, this amber colored beer has a vibrant orange hue and is topped by a two-finger thick off-white head that sticks all over the glass. Also, nice lively carbonation dances around in the glass, yet also lifts the little particles of yeasty floaters around. This beer does have some considerable haze to it.

Great IPA aroma! It is aggressive, bold, and definitely hoppy. After the pour I easily smell tropical fruits (mango, pineapple) and pine-like aroma hops. Once the head settles and the beer warms a bit, these sort of leave and are replaced with aromas of caramel and tangerine.

First impression: BITTER! 69 IBUs may not sound like a lot, but they somehow got all 69 units to be intensified! Really bitter up front...hard to call this beer well-balanced in any way. It is sharp and just overly bitter for an IPA. Good flavor of hops. There is some flavor of malt, but it is almost entirely masked by the bracing bitterness which starts up front and is carried all the way through till the aftertaste. Spicy hops, notes of bitter orange pith. As it warms, that bitterness becomes a little more tamed (as your palate has already been wrecked and not can't tell the difference) and notes of biscuit malt and toast seem to come through more.

Decent amount of carbonation. Medium to full bodied IPA, that is sharp and almost astringent from the sheer amount of bitter alpha acids...certainly what you could consider a "palate coating bitterness.

This is not my favorite IPA. I find it to be overly aggressive with those alpha acids. Towards the end, the malt profile reminded me of Victory HopDevil, but the hops are just so much more in line with HopDevil. Not a bad IPA at all, but I will not be purchasing again.

Serving type: can

12-13-2012 03:50:38 | More by MusicaleMike

DrinkingDrake

Massachusetts

2.9/5  rDev -25.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Poured out a deep orange almost golden color. About a fingers worth of head with a large amount of it clinging to the glass. Aroma is a lot of grapefruit and tangerine. I barely get anything form the malts. The flavor is fruity, sweet and smooth upfront but it gives way to a astringent medicinal middle (almost a weak robitussin). The hop variety gives a great aroma but the flavors seem out of whack. The finish is extremely dry and biting. The medicinal flavors linger with the dry bitterness.

Serving type: can

06-06-2011 23:18:19 | More by DrinkingDrake

jneiswender

Massachusetts

3/5  rDev -22.9%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Poured from can. Amber body with an off white head. Citrus and fruity smells. the taste is a mix of pine pitch, citrus and course grain. Medium mouthfeel and well carbonated. Okay beer but nothing really spectacular here. I would drink again if given limited choices.

Serving type: can

01-31-2012 03:19:00 | More by jneiswender

perrymarcus

Massachusetts

3.08/5  rDev -20.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

12oz can served in a pint glass.

pours a cloudy, dull golden tone while yielding a creamy 2" beige head. solid retention and a lot of lacing.

good nose, jumping with citric / tropical hoppiness... secondary notes of pine and malt. very good, though nothing mind-blowing.

flavor more or less follows the aroma, and yet... it's somewhat disappointing. the parts don't quite fit together the way i'd hoped... the malt backbone is stronger than i personally like in my IPAs. medium-bodied mouthfeel with average carbonation.

an average IPA overall, in a style bursting at the seems with superlative examples, i have to say this one, while quaffable, is nothing to write home about.

Serving type: can

09-28-2011 05:51:18 | More by perrymarcus

BostonHops

Massachusetts

3.08/5  rDev -20.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

12oz can served in a pint glass.

pours a cloudy, dull golden tone while yielding a creamy 2" beige head. solid retention and a lot of lacing. good nose, jumping with citric / tropical hoppiness... secondary notes of pine and malt. nothing mind-blowing but very solid.

flavor more or less follows the aroma, and yet... it's somewhat disappointing. the parts don't quite fit together the way i'd hoped... the malt backbone is stronger than i personally like in my IPAs. medium-bodied mouthfeel with average carbonation.

an average IPA overall, in a style bursting at the seems with superlative examples, i have to say this one, while quaffable, is nothing to write home about. wouldn't turn on down but won't be seeking it out, either.

(originally reviewed: 09-28-2011)

Serving type: can

06-20-2012 23:13:52 | More by BostonHops

SunDevilBeer

Massachusetts

3.1/5  rDev -20.3%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

First off, I will say this beer is wildly inconsistent. I've had it several times on draft and went through a 6-pack of cans - really a different beer each time.

That said, I'll judge the beer on average when I've had it on tap.

Pours dark copper with little head. Settles down pretty quickly. Nose is similar to the ubiquitous Harpoon IPA in my opinion.

First taste sometimes is a bit rough. A bit dirty and muddled upon first sip, but a strong hop presence comes to wipe everything up at the end. A bit of citrus, semi-hot alcohol, and depending on which time I've had it, can be pretty enjoyable. Can be grassy and a tad smokey sometimes too. Every time I've had it, the beer has a strong malt backbone.

This beer is an enigma to me. Way too inconsistent from each time I've had it.

Serving type: on-tap

12-10-2011 19:56:50 | More by SunDevilBeer

Kegatron

Pennsylvania

3.2/5  rDev -17.7%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

12 oz can into a pint glass. I drank this within a month of being canned.

Pours a clear copper, with a couple fingers of off-white head. This retains with a big creamy dollop of froth in the middle of glass that just coats the sides of the glass with sticky foamy lacing. The aroma smells more herbal than floral to me, with notes of earthy spice and zesty grapefruit character that pairs up decently enough with a sweeter mix of ripe fruit and tight grains across the back of the nose. Fruit, herbal tones, and pine end up dominating this as things warm up.

The taste has a moderately robust grapefruit bitterness to it that is softened considerably by a mix of slick herbal textures, light tropical fruit, grainy toasted malt, and a splash of sweeter caramel. The finish is spicy and resinous with a bit of raw pith that sticks to the tongue. The mouthfeel is medium bodied, with a soft oily creaminess on the edges that pulls into more of a crisp prickle on the tongue. Unfortunately, I’m finding a bit too much warmth here in the body, which brings out some unwanted assertiveness from those hops.

I couldn’t get into this one. Tropical fruit, herbal flavors, and warmth just control the profiles too much here, as I was left searching for some kind of crisp or biting character to help crank the drinkability up a bit. I’m glad I just grabbed a single can of this one.

Serving type: can

03-08-2012 19:35:56 | More by Kegatron

u2carew

Massachusetts

3.23/5  rDev -17%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

12oz can
A) pours with a finger thick head, then settles to a thin lacing on top. Hazy bronze colored body. Semi-sticky lacing on the drink down.
S) Orange. Grassy.
T) Hop bite upfront. Subtle nutty-ness and malty sweetness. The hops are the definitely the dominate feature of this brew.
M) Crisp. Medium body. Dry in the finish. The alcohol gives off some warmth in the aftertaste.
O) A decent beer. I'd have another one.

Serving type: can

04-15-2012 18:15:12 | More by u2carew

TK5150

Maine

3.25/5  rDev -16.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

A- Pours a good-looking light orange with a large, sudsy, off-white head. Quite clear, no hop haze.

S- Smells very green and fresh. A decent shot of grapefruit and other non-descript citrus. A hint of malt in the background. Not bad, but would like more complexity with the hops.

T- Hop bitterness, some crystal malt, light grapefruit flavor, but its much more focused on hop bitterness than flavor. Taste basically disappears from the palate after swallowing. Disappointing.

M- Pretty standard for an IPA, medium bodied. Fairly strong carbonation. Finishes dry.

D- One or two cans goes down fine (and by that, I mean that's all I will probably ever have), nothing great here to keep me coming back.

Overall, will not buy in the future. Too boring, and too expensive for what it is.

Serving type: bottle

02-05-2011 20:22:53 | More by TK5150

Thorpe429

Illinois

3.25/5  rDev -16.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Can courtesy of McGrupp612. Served in a mug.

Pours a moderate copper color with a good off-white head and a bit of lacing. The nose carries quite a bit of bready malt and some faint hoppy notes. Not strong enough to really be discernible as to type, but a good combo. Flavor is not up to par. It's far too malty and too far in the style of an East Coast "IPA." Quotation marks for emphasis. Medium body with a slight bitterness. Decent, but nothing special.

Serving type: can

12-01-2011 00:42:58 | More by Thorpe429

tigg924

Massachusetts

3.25/5  rDev -16.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Had on tap at New World Tavern--served into a pint glass

Appearance: 1/4 inch head, moderate carbonation, dark golden amber in color, clear

Smell: big time pine and citrus hops and caramel

Taste: big time pine and citrus hops and caramel

Mouthfeel: medium-light body, bitter spike in just about the beginning less bitter end, moderate carbonation

Overall: I was surprised with how bitter this one was for the amount of IBUs. The beginning almost reminded me of Hop Devil by Victory. A bit bitter for my tastes but worth trying for a hop head.

Serving type: on-tap

02-17-2012 13:30:40 | More by tigg924

dciBA

Maine

3.3/5  rDev -15.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Poured from the can into a tulip. Hazy orange in color with a thin white head. Plenty of lacing as it goes down.

Smell is mostly bready malt with some hops. Taste is similar but the hops come through more. There's still plenty of maltiness but the hops are pleasant and fairly plentiful without being too bitter. Plenty of carbonation, but not too much. Goes down quickly and finishes dry.

Overall a nice IPA from Baxter. It might be a little on the safe side. Maybe they'll do a DIPA at some point?

Serving type: bottle

02-07-2011 23:55:35 | More by dciBA

dali27

Illinois

3.3/5  rDev -15.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3.5

Poured from a 12 oz. can into a clear plastic cup.

A: A very nice deep orange amber. Looks thick. Creamy off-white head.

S: A lot of aroma in the nose. Pine and grapefruit. Supremely hoppy.

T: Piney hops dominate the taste. This one is full of flavor. So much hops bitterness, that it choked me up a bit on the finish.

M: Medium mouthfeel, that turns heavy by the end of the drink. Really bitter.

O: This was a pretty good representation of what I would consider a West-Coast style IPA. Everything is where it should be from the appearance through the first part of the taste. Then something happened that made it not very drinkable for me. Oh well. Pretty good nonetheless.

Serving type: can

07-20-2011 20:22:34 | More by dali27

jmarsh123

Indiana

3.33/5  rDev -14.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Pours light copper with a generous amount of off-white foam.

Smells of bready malts along with some citrus hops.

Some sweet toffee/bready malt stands out the most. Not a whole lot of hop flavor up front. Finishes with a grassy piney bitterness and a touch astringent.

Normal mouthfeel and carb levels.

Not horrible, but nothing especially stands out about it either. The finish is a bit harsh, but decent beer in a can is always good.

Serving type: can

04-03-2012 23:03:35 | More by jmarsh123

angrybabboon

Rhode Island

3.4/5  rDev -12.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Cheers to Goblinmunkey7 for this can

Review adapted from notes taken 6/8/11

Appearance: Dark golden orange/ light amber, starts off with a nice head and leaves some good lacing

Smell: A nice aroma with pine and citrus - orange rind - grassy, herbal, kind of floral - some pale malts in the background

Taste: Less impressive than the smell, not what I am looking for in an IPA - very, very grassy - some bitter grapefruit - malts are uninteresting, pale and almost a little undercooked

Mouthfeel: Medium body, nice carbonation, somewhat crisp

Overall: Not bad, just very average

This is a decent beer. The problem is that there are countless other IPAs that do it better. I'd certainly drink this again, but I wouldn't seek it out.

Serving type: can

09-28-2011 15:20:16 | More by angrybabboon

Etan

Illinois

3.4/5  rDev -12.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Poured from a 12oz can into a Libbey stout glass. Sent to me by Valdieu2.

A: Pours a dark murky orange with a nice, spongy off-white head. Sticky, sticky lacing. Nice looking IPA.

S: Juicy citrus rind and flesh. Sweet papaya, grapefruit, orange. Some caramel malt underneath.

T: Pretty scaled back compared to the aroma. Mellow citrus, grassy, lemony hop builds up to a brief flash of bitterness. A bit of grainy malt in the clean finish.

M: Medium-bodied, tingly carbonation.

O: Looks great, smells nice, but the taste doesn't deliver. A bit too weak to be a full-on IPA.

Serving type: can

03-31-2012 03:56:58 | More by Etan

johnnnniee

New Hampshire

3.43/5  rDev -11.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

New IPA in a can, yes please!
Pours a crystal clear deep copper color with a huge fluffy white head that takes forever to recede and leaves lots of sticky lace on the edges of the glass. Smells of citrus hops up front, grapefruit and a hint of lemon with some pine and resin thrown in for good measure. There's a solid malt backbone there, bready, caramel, honey malts. Taste is a bit maltier than I expected. Lots of bread and caramel sweetness. Kind of light on the hop flavor, although the punch of hop bitterness is evident. Medium body and level of carbonation, sweet almost sticky mouthfeel. Decent IPA but a bit heavy on the malt for my liking. There's a lot of harsh hop bitterness in here, maybe more later hop additions and a bit fewer bittering would work a little better.

Serving type: can

10-30-2011 00:59:37 | More by johnnnniee

divineaudio

Michigan

3.43/5  rDev -11.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

12oz can courtesy of valdieu2. tulip glass.

a - pours a hazy, glowing amber color with a finger's worth of dense, creamy, off white head. leaves some interesting lacing patterns in the glass too.

s - biscuity with faint grassy hops and a faint astringency.

t - biscuity malt with a faint toffee like sweetness, faint grapefruit and maybe a hint of something darker like raisin. has an earthy hop character and ample piney bitterness but avoids being a bitter hop bomb. nicely balanced.

m - medium in body with adequate carbonation. co2 profile is on the coarser side.

o - enjoyable a definitely a better than average ipa, but nothing really makes it memorable to me. worth a try if you come across it.

Serving type: can

03-30-2012 05:23:38 | More by divineaudio

womencantsail

California

3.45/5  rDev -11.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Thanks to Amy for this can.

A: The beer pours a light amber color with a fizzy off-white head to go with it.

S: Quite a nice aroma. Lots of pine and citrus peel, some grapefruit character and a mild malt sweetness. There is also some other fruitiness to the nose and some floral notes.

T: Not quite as good on the tongue, but decent. Fairly grassy with some nice grapefruit and grapefruit peel flavors. Toffee and bread sweetness, with a moderate level of bitterness.

M: Medium in body and carbonation.

O: Significantly better than the pale. The nose was great, it would have been a pretty solid beer if that translated to the flavor.

Serving type: can

05-23-2011 18:14:04 | More by womencantsail

mothman

Saskatchewan (Canada)

3.48/5  rDev -10.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Thanks to Hollie for sending this out!

Poured into NB Globe Glass.

Pours 1/2 finger of rocky khaki head. Good retention with lace rings. Color is a dark rustic orange.

Aroma: Pretty fresh and hoppy. Weedy and piney. A little bit of union flavor. A bit of citrus. Kind of dank hoppy.

Taste: Kind of different from the nose. It is a lot grassier. A bit weedy. Sticky hops. Has the similar onion hints. Hardly and citrus fruits here. Some bready malts.

Mouthfeel: Bitter and sticky.Medium bodied with a medium amount of carbonation. Ends with a hop resin feel.

Overall, a decent ipa. Very bitter. It lacked the tropical citrus fruit that I normally enjoy in ipas, however. Decent drinkability.

Serving type: can

03-29-2011 23:46:54 | More by mothman

Bowdoinbeerboy

Maine

3.48/5  rDev -10.5%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Poured out of a can, almost no head. This beer is delightfully hopy in the nose, a little bit malty as well. Taste is wet hops, not overly powerful or biting tho, nicely balanced. A solid IPA, nothing overly distinctive though to really push it over the top.

Serving type: can

10-30-2011 21:11:10 | More by Bowdoinbeerboy

Chico1985

Massachusetts

3.48/5  rDev -10.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Canned 7-19-12, reviewed from notes last week.

Pours a bright copperish orange, a white head retains well as a good cap leaving spots of lace.

Smell is pretty malt forward - caramel, bread and butter along with light herbal+grapefruit hops.

Taste brings a little more hops to the table but it's still mostly malt forward. Caramel and some bready malts and a tame hop bill of earthiness, citrus and grapefruit.

Pretty smooth mouthfeel, medium carbonation, easy drinking.

Those looking for a hop bomb will surely want to search elsewhere, it's on the simple and malty side but a pretty enjoyable East Coast IPA.

Serving type: can

09-10-2012 21:01:08 | More by Chico1985