Worthington's White Shield - Museum Brewing Company / White Shield Brewery

Ego

New Jersey

3.2/5  rDev -15.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.25

I hope I feel like sacking jerusalem after having this...

eyes...
golden brown with a furious torrent of bubble action, the head is massive to start, cuts itself in half in a minute but then maintains, a beautiful cascade of perfectly cloned microbubbles on the sides with a mushroom of marshmellow in the middle floating like some sort of quasi-island, clear on this pour throughout in terms of clarity, pretty nice lookin' lot

nose...
musty green hops, some tangy yeast, slight bits of lemon, an almost sea breeze quality to it, pretty straight forward and such

taste etc...
musty dry brit hops, almost has a dusty stale taste (but not unpleasant), when taking a nice swig with the fresh head this is much more appealing, it gives it more mouthfeel that way, the hops are not very bitter, the malts are the right sweetness... but nothing really is satisfying me here to any great length. this is not crap or anything, it is just pretty standard fare, the carbonation is very good though, it seems to really fit the bill for a nice pint at the bar.

verdict?
no wonder the french killed the order... this beer is OK, nothing special, nothing bad, I wouldn't turn it down on tap but I certainly will not be launching 3 journeys into enemy lands for it...

Serving type: bottle

05-11-2013 04:19:36 | More by Ego

wisrarebeer

Wisconsin

4.38/5  rDev +15.9%
look: 5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

A: clear, light copper color, poured with a rocky, creamy, big head, tan-off-white colored head
S: mild nose, light biscuity malt with good earthy hop finish
T: a classic British IPA, well-rounded, full-bodied, and well-balanced with surprisingly bitter hop finish for a British IPA
M: well-balanced and refreshing

Serving type: bottle

05-05-2013 03:12:22 | More by wisrarebeer

Chrysostom

Ohio

4.2/5  rDev +11.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

As always, I review (mostly) to style (ala BJCP), modified (a bit, not too much) by personal taste (contra BJCP), or else certain beers, which are excellent exemplars of styles I do not prefer (like this IPA), would receive consistently lower marks than beers which are poor exemplars of my favourite styles.

As always, I review live, and not from notes.

This is a re-review of Worthington's White Shield from a new bottle. My current impressions are largely consistent with my first - an excellent, stand-out IPA, one of the best of its style.

Presentation: 22 fl oz bomber, $3.99 certified "real ale" by CAMRA. Poured in to a Stone Brewing pint glass at 40ºF and warming as I write. Brewed by Coors.

A: Crystal-clear amber colour. "Amber" was invented to describe the shade of this beer. Lively carbonation, three-finger head, excellent retention and lacing.

S: Excellent for a "Coors" beer. Subdued tropical and citrus fruits, with a little bit of funkiness/wet rag reminiscent of a Belgian - still a defect for the style, maybe due to the long Atlantic voyage.

T: This is my kind of IPA. Some citrus fruits, a strong, toasty breadiness, a strong malt backbone tempered by some good, but very well-balanced, hopping, with a long, dry, astringent finish. Notes of cereal, pine needles, juniper berries, and an odd kind of hops, which I take to be an English variety I am unaccustomed to. This is how an IPA should be. If you like IPA, but find the American styles too reminiscent of marijuana in the flavour, and of bitter-ass denatured alcohol in the hop bite, this is the beer for you. Far more taste than the low ABV (5.6%) foretells.

M: Light and spritzy, full and bitter, smooth and mellow. Higher carbonation than American IPAs, and, frankly, better.

D: High.

O: Try this beer. The quintessential "session beer". The best IPA I've ever had. Second best is Commodore Perry, an English-style American IPA. The Brits know how to brew their India Pale Ales - they should, they ruled the subcontinent for a century. Try this beer.

If you like American IPA, the hops may be underwhelming - the hop characteristic is more in-line with an American Pale Ale.

To style (English IPA): 95/100
To style (IPA): 82/100
To taste: 88/100

Serving type: bottle

04-02-2013 21:25:57 | More by Chrysostom

heygeebee

Australia

3.16/5  rDev -16.4%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 2 | overall: 3.25

From Vintage Cellars. BB Apr 14.

A somewhat unremarkable India pale ale overall. True to style with English style malts, moderate hops.

Notable is this instance is the godalmighty fizz that comes out of the bottle when poured. A good two finger head a la Hefe takes a while to subside, and the mouthfeel is too fizzy and spritzy.

Apart from that, solid.

Serving type: bottle

03-22-2013 09:57:56 | More by heygeebee

Bookseeb

Washington

3.1/5  rDev -18%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Appearance has a mid orange amber color supporting a nice lasting head leaving small lace. Smell is clean with light cereal notes and english hops. Taste of the cereal grain, english yeast with fruit notes and a balance of hops throughout. Mouthfeel is medium with a higher carbonation associated with this English style.

Serving type: bottle

03-20-2013 00:19:35 | More by Bookseeb

FLima

Brazil

4.14/5  rDev +9.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

Clear amber copper color with tons of thick head and leaving laces.
Aroma of earthy and piney hops. Mild when compared to the American counterparties.
Perfect balanced beer, optimum level of slightly toasted malt sweetness (meaning not sweet) and a decent amount of earthy hops. Notes of pine, orange peel, caramel, guaraná and licorice.
Dry and bitter aftertaste. Light body with medium carbonation and tiny bubbles with an effervescent sensation.
What a pleasant beer to drink, this must be the reason to be almost 300 years old in business. Glad to see that still to be now owned by a global major company they are truly faithful to the style, actually it is claimed to be the oldest surviving IPA. Very hoppy for English beers, but not overwhelming as some American IPAs can be (ps. anyway not to a hop head like this one).

Serving type: bottle

03-04-2013 01:51:25 | More by FLima

popery

California

3.63/5  rDev -4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5

Pours a rich amber-copper color. Some haze. Big white head that expands quickly with a hard pour. Solid chunks of lace sticking to the walls of the glass. Very pretty beer. Lots of English hops in the aroma; I'm not good at this, but my guess would be Goldings. It has a sweet citrus aroma shot through with a peppery spice. I'm not enjoying the malt contribution as much. The caramel sweetness is a bit limp and doesn't quite have that luxurious quality of that I love in other English beers. Perhaps, a touch of diacetyl, not that it's a problem, just a little English twist. The taste adds an interesting mineral note but loses some hop brightness. The malt is still a bit underwhelming. The bitterness seems to have that lasting dry flavor that I think of coming from Burton's hard water. Still, the beer either needs a richer malt sweetness or a drier profile. The malt bill kinda plays the middle and doesn't do a great job of it. Good yeasty, mildly bitter finish, though. It's an easy drinking beer. Mouthfeel is relatively gentle. The attempt to mimic cask ale doesn't work all that well, but it's a good thought - I recommend a relatively hard pour and patience. The drying finish helps a lot. Drinks easily. It's always fun to try a good English beer. Too few make it across the Atlantic.

Serving type: bottle

03-02-2013 05:56:28 | More by popery

JustinAniello

Connecticut

4/5  rDev +5.8%
look: 5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

A - Pours a reddish copper with a thick three finger head. Slowly dissipates to a very nice cap remains with a sticky lacing. Probably the best looking IPA I have seen from a bottle.

S - Aromas of orange, sweet bread, and a bit of moss or forest mix together.

T - Sweet oranges initially, turning to a dark bread, yeast in the background. Mild piney bitterness in the swallow, lingering in the aftertaste.

M - Medium body and light carbonation.

O - A good IPA, nice flavor profile, just the right ratio of malt to hops. Could use a little more depth in the aroma. Would definitely have again.

Serving type: bottle

02-20-2013 00:12:03 | More by JustinAniello

LiquidAmber

Washington

3.85/5  rDev +1.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Poured into a Samuel Smith imperial pint glass. Pours a medium orange amber with a healthy three finger very light tan head and pillowy lacing. Light aroma of biscuit malt and grassy, spicy hops. Flavor of biscuit and bready malt with light earthy and grassy hops. Nicely balanced and a great combination of malt and light hops. Finishes with very faint hops and malt. Medium bodied. A quite pleasant English style IPA. I suspect the long shipping time has muted the hops somewhat, and this is nice enough that I hope I can drink a fresh version some day with a bit more hops.

Serving type: bottle

02-19-2013 02:45:24 | More by LiquidAmber

Bouleboubier

Pennsylvania

4.29/5  rDev +13.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

A: pale-ish amber, mostly clear with the slightest haze (dry-hop?) - voluminous, frothy head...excellent structure, settles mousse-y...open-area bubble stand, good retention - cap all the way down, splotches of lace

S: some hops on the nose (EKG?), a bit floral but more so leafy - sweetish malt...dried-out caramel chews - fairly typical English ale aromas, aside from the added hop character

T: interesting mellow-peppery, bay-leaf herbal flavor to the hops (yeast-derived flavors mixed in here as well?) - incredibly hoppy by English (export, bottle) standards - bitter orange peel and an almost tonic water note - there's some toasted pale malt flavor underneath, but it's surprisingly overwhelmed by the fairly aggressive, long-lasting hop bitterness and some of the carbonation

M: clean, vaguely thinnish body...not quite enough roundness - frothy-soft and more delicate as it warms - drops off clean, not heavy, but certainly not weak

O: by the last few sips, I was convinced that this is easily the best English IPA (from the home country) that I've tried - quite possibly the most hop-bitter British ale I've had (and I hesitate saying that with Old Engine Oil coming to mind...) - it could use a little more malt (grain) biscuit/sweetness, or less hops (dare I say!) - but this was a fantastic experience - can't wait to revisit this one!

Serving type: bottle

01-24-2013 07:49:36 | More by Bouleboubier

deciding39

Massachusetts

4.19/5  rDev +10.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

1 pint, 9 oz. bottle poured into an imperial pint glass.

A: Pours slightly hazy amber with orange hues. A slightly off-white head forms and slowly recedes over the course of a few minutes to a thin veil, which is still completely covering the top of the beer. Extra fine carbonation with excellent lacing.

S: The sweet smell of raisins and toffee fills the nose, with some notes of caramel and toasted grain. A slight earthiness is present, but other than that hops do not appear to be much of a factor in the aroma.

T: Starts with sweet caramel and toffee but quickly transitions to a very pleasant, earthy hop flavor of cedar and spice. A clean, bready yeast note hides just beneath the surface, with no trace of diacetyl. The finish is a bit dry and quite long, as an assertive earthy, woody hop bitterness clings to the back of the palate for some time.

M&D: Medium bodied and moderately carbonated (perhaps just a touch more than expected for the style), the well-struck balance of flavors and modest ABV keep this one sessionable. The complex and lingering finish are the star here, drawing me back for more but never too soon, as I like to give each sip a minute or two to develop as the flavors evolve.

A fantastic representation of the style! Perfectly balanced - if you've been drinking west coast IPA's for a while, try this out for a nice change of pace to find out just how versatile the style truly is.

Serving type: bottle

01-24-2013 00:17:13 | More by deciding39

bluejacket74

Ohio

3.79/5  rDev +0.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 3.75

500 ml bottle, label says best before end 07 MAR 14. Served in a nonic pint glass, the beer pours a hazy orange color with about an inch off-white head. Head retention and lacing are both pretty good. Aroma is nice but light, it smells like toasted malt, fruit, spicy hops and some bready malt/grain. It tastes like earthy hops, fruit, toffee, tea, toasted and bready malt, and a bit of peppery spice. There's a nice bitter finish, too. Mouthfeel/body is light/medium, it's smooth and has nice, soft carbonation. I think this is a good English IPA. At $3.99 a bottle, it's worth trying.

Serving type: bottle

01-21-2013 00:11:38 | More by bluejacket74

OtherShoe2

Massachusetts

3.91/5  rDev +3.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours medium orange with an off white/beige head. Nice and rocky, impressive sticky gobs of foam a the pint drains.

Toasted malt, a little spicy note in the nose. That's it.

Typical English IPA. Nice transition in flavors. Toasted malt is like brown bread crust. No fruit. Bitterness is pure and not fruity/piney. Finish is clean and bitter.

Medium body, a bit soft with the carbonation.

Good beer. Nice change from the in-your-face American IPAs. Malt is as important as the bitterness, and it works.

Serving type: bottle

01-19-2013 18:51:53 | More by OtherShoe2

Ascender

Illinois

3.99/5  rDev +5.6%
look: 4.75 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 5 | overall: 4

Bought this at my local liquor store completely unaware of its roots. Used my Oxford Encyclopedia of Beer to do the research.

Appearance is delightful, a gemlike orange with a nice foamy white head and decent lacing.

The nose is underwhelming, a bit of hops, but nothing otherwise striking.

The taste is great, a mild, very smooth taste without the overwhelming hoppiness of American IPA's.

The mouthfeel is where it goes over the top. Wonderful velvet notes, great retention, this is a great feeling beer.

I loved this beer. If I were a civil servant in Calcutta in 1799 and had this delivered on the last boat from Burton-Upon-Trent, I'd be overjoyed.

Serving type: bottle

01-13-2013 02:46:40 | More by Ascender

jtierney89

New Jersey

3/5  rDev -20.6%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

bold brassy hue with a towering craggy and sticky eggshell head. malty fruity aroma with a very herbal hop presence, but a pretty subdued nose otherwise.

Very clean thin, almost watery on the finish. Sweet malts, some fig jam on toast like flavors rolls into a faint butteryness. Finishes dry with a leafy hop character. Flavors are subdued and the body, while being a little thin, is almost too big to allow these soft flavors show. It does a good job of having that cask ale mouthfeel out of a bottle but its just a little dull. Bitterness is nice though. Could be my new world palate trying to review a true old world style. Not my cup of tea though.

Serving type: bottle

01-10-2013 03:54:43 | More by jtierney89

hustlesworth

Ohio

4.2/5  rDev +11.1%
look: 5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

A- explosively foamy but I ain't bitchin. Slightly hazed orange amber body with golden highlights. Amazing looking head. There's just a big ecru doughnut of foam floating up top and the surface becomes hoppily wrinkly as it sets. Lace is everywhere all sticky and drippy. One of the most beautiful IPAs I've ever seen.

S- bright English hops shine through the caramel and toffee malts but this one stays perfectly balanced. Nice mineral water aromas as well. Fresh grains, cookie sweetness with a hint of spice.

T- slightly heavier with hops than other real English IPAs but that's not a bad thing. A somewhat lighter set of malts contribute to this and give it a nice crispness. Hops are earthy and pungent and fresh with alpha acids. Earthy mushroomy almost Brie rind yeast flavor with tea, tobacco, aromatic wood and leather. Finishes hoppy and balanced with a twist of lemon and some spice.

MF- nice grain husk feel and a beautiful dryness. Medium bodied with perfectly smooth 'real ale' type carbonation.

D- hoopier than other English IPAs I've had and drier to boot. Not terribly complex but flavorful and tasty enough to win me over. I could session the hell out of this one.

Serving type: bottle

01-07-2013 05:45:11 | More by hustlesworth

Phocion

Minnesota

4.9/5  rDev +29.6%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

500ml bottle with a BB date of 07 March, 2014 poured into my Surly nonic. Huge, frothy/rocky light beige head with amazing retention and eventually thick, chunky lacing when it finally starts to dissipate. Mildly hazy orange-brown body hiding somewhere underneath that behemoth head. Minimal amount of sediment still at the bottom of the bottle, but I was careful to avoid getting much into the glass.

It's amazing that I can actually smell anything through this head, but there is a healthy amount of spicy/floral hoppiness combining with caramel and bready malt notes. Spices, mildly nutty, toffee, and doughy yeast with a slight indistinguishable fruity aroma.

Wow. This thing tastes completely phenomenal. Perfect balance of sweet caramel and toffee along with a dry, earthy hoppiness. The Burton salts are definitely noticeable as well, which in my opinion is a good thing.

Medium bodied and low-medium carbonation that is actually a little higher than I was expecting for this beer. Very soft and velvety mouthfeel.

Overall... holy hell, this is a wonderful beer. Keep in mind I have an extreme Anglo bias, but nonetheless this is probably the best bottled English beer I've tried. This is exactly what it's style should be and immensely drinkable. Is it big and bold like most of the higher-ranking beers on this site? No, but it is just as, if not more complex and arguably tastes even better. I'll be buying more of these without hesitation. The only downsides are its fairly limited availability and that it's a little high in ABV to be considered a session ale. But it's still an amazing beer.

Serving type: bottle

12-30-2012 23:12:17 | More by Phocion

flyingpig

United Kingdom (Scotland)

3.55/5  rDev -6.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Clear copper colour with a gigantic, foamy head that is white and stays for a very long time. Had it not been such a large head the beer would have scored higher.

Earthy hops and a mix of malts to start, along with some caramel and a bit of toffee. There is a few floral notes and a bit of biscuit as well but nothing overly strong or appealing.

Hops and malts from the nose with some floral hops shinning through along with a biscuit malt taste and a bit of an earthy taste as well. Pretty level throughout with nothing stealing the show as it were and as expected there is a bit of bitter at the end.

Light medium and with low carbonation, there is some bitterness towards the end and a dry, sort of moreish feel to the end.

One of the darker IPA's out there with straying too far from the norm. It was pretty ordinary although not boring throughout and had just about enough to keep me interested without warranting a second tasting.

Serving type: bottle

12-17-2012 12:09:28 | More by flyingpig

pweis909

Wisconsin

4.15/5  rDev +9.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

24 oz bottle w/ 07 Mar 14 067 makred on label.

The beer is excessively frothy. It seems to lose all its carbonation at once, leaving a thick white foam at the top of my glass and an clear amber liquid at the bottom.

If something can smell a little minerally, this is it. There is in the aroma that reminds me a bit of metal and unscented soap. Surprisingly, neither of these are unwelcome aromas is unwelcome. There is also a slight caramel note.

It tastes lightly sweet with a balanced unobstrusive bitterness. In the finish, that soap and metal are noticeable, again not in a bad way.

The mouthfeel reminds me of cask experiences. Very lightly carbonated, making the beer a little less prickly, and a little less filling. The finish is dry, which, when coupled with the lightly sweet opening, makes this an easier beer to drink.

Serving type: bottle

12-12-2012 00:52:04 | More by pweis909

twiggamortis420

Texas

3.28/5  rDev -13.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

500 mL bottle pours a mostly clear copper color with a large cap of off-white head. Really nice retention and lacing...a fantastic looking brew. Best by date of 06 Mar 14.

Nose is mineraly, leaning a tad salty and light fruit. Not a whole lot of hops are discernable from the aroma, maybe some faint grass. Malts are somewhere in between toffee and biscuity.

Taste is fruity and malty with a mild floral hop bitterness on the finish. The flavors overall are quite light and gives the beer a muted flavor, even at 50 degrees or so. The taste of carbonation and alcohol seem to be the biggest players here. This surprises me as the label claims "Closer to Cask for a fuller flavor"...I expected something low on carbonation and richly malted. It also boasts "Our finest IPA for true IPA connoisseurs" and I surely didn’t find that to be the case. Upon even further inspection, this particular bottle was brewed by Tenth and Blake Beer Co. (Molson-Coors), so I guess I am not too surprised by this lackluster offering. Perhaps the original English Ale (if there ever was one) is a better brew than this.

Serving type: bottle

11-21-2012 00:44:11 | More by twiggamortis420

ryan1788a5

Massachusetts

4.08/5  rDev +7.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

16.9oz bottle poured into a pint glass. Best before sate of March 7, 2014.

A: Golden-brown in color with a very slight haze. A huge, rocky off-white head roars to life even after a pour of only modest strength. Retention is otherworldly, and lots of patchy, dirty-looking lacing is left behind.

S: Caramel, toffee, broth, hints of bread. Hops are strongly herbal on the nose with scents of garden herbs and tobacco. A touch perfumey and floral too. Whiffs of butterscotch and yeast.

T: Crusty and bready malt, caramel, toffee, lightly roasted coffee beans, slight hint of cocoa. Nutty yeast. Herbal and earthy hop tastes grow toward the mid-palate until they dominate on the back end. Buttery tastes sneak in briefly. Finishes with retreating malt flavors of toffee, bread, and coffee and an assertive tobacco/herbal hop taste.

M: Medium bodied. Staunch and full in the mouth with an assertive malt body. Low carbonation makes for a very cask-like mouthfeel. Very well-rounded.

O: A classic English IPA. If you're a fan of the style, there's a lot to love here. The cask-like mouthfeel in particular is quite nice.

Serving type: bottle

11-19-2012 22:53:18 | More by ryan1788a5

doktorhops

Australia

3.75/5  rDev -0.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

English IPA's: tea-hop tasting original style that helped spawn the American craft beer scene (albeit with a hard-hitting hop-slam approach). Also one of my personal favourite styles behind the mouth-watering Belgian tripels, quadrupels and American Pale Ales... oh and a decent Porter too. White Shield stood out to me with it's CAMRA logo (big fan of CAMRA brews), so fingers crossed said logo and its legacy isn't taken lightly.

Poured from a 500ml bottle into a nonic pint.

A: Slight cloudy copper body with an creamy white 0.5cm head.

S: Aroma is mild and has a distinct barnyard/stable smell. Along with that the only other thing detected was caramel malts. Not overly impressed here, but the flavour is where it really counts.

T: The taste was certainly unexpected! It's much bolder and has various notes; hits with grapefruit citrus, sweet caramel malt middle, a bit of coriander, pepper, finishes with acidic tea-like tannins. There is medium hop bitterness front (grapefruit) and back (tea-like tannins). Flavour is reasonably complex.

M: Creamy carbonation, mid to light body.

D: One could easily dismiss this ale with a whiff, but that would be a mistake because it is truly an interesting take on the style. Gets better as it gets warmer, like most English ales. If it wasn't brazenly expensive I would keep a supply of it in my fridge.

Food match: This is one ale that would suit a decent Thai curry, like a Massaman or Penang curry with the obligatory side of coconut rice.

Serving type: bottle

11-19-2012 09:50:14 | More by doktorhops

puboflyons

New Hampshire

4.35/5  rDev +15.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

From the 25 fl. oz. bottle stamped 06 Mar 14-06. Sampled on November 19, 2012.

The pour is a cloudy, murky looking copper-amber with a moderate head.

The aroma has a pleasant malt beginning with a more laid back hop tone. Some IPA's can be so floral or so piney but this one is more mellow.

The body is about medium with a nice creaminess.

The taste starts sweet and ends a little more hoppy than the aroma might lead one to believe. The hop bitterness is moderate and lingers for a moment.

Their description says they are using the same recipe since 1830 when IPA's were transported to the Far East. To me, this is the way a British IPA should be. The hops do not cause me to pucker up but they keep the overall sweet malty flavor alive. I bet the British Colonies in Burma loved this one.

Serving type: bottle

11-18-2012 21:07:17 | More by puboflyons

johnnnniee

New Hampshire

3.53/5  rDev -6.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Pours a deep clear golden color with a huge bubbly white head that persists forever. The aroma is quite fruity with a touch of caramel malt backbone. Fruity yeast esters with a hint of sulfur and a touch of toffee round out the nose. Mild sulfur mineral water flavor with a solid shot of hop bitterness. Sweet juicy fruits mixed with toffee, caramel, brown sugar and a hint of butterscotch. Medium body with a moderate level of carbonation and a sweet mineral mouthfeel. Nice beer, but its a bit of a stretch to call it an IPA, or maybe its just my American hop fried palette.

Serving type: bottle

11-01-2012 22:58:41 | More by johnnnniee

superspak

Michigan

3.8/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

500 ml bottle into pint glass, best before 3/7/2014. Pours lightly hazy golden orange color with a nice 2-3 finger foamy white head with fantastic retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lingers. A fair amount of foamy lacing on the glass. Aromas of caramel, biscuit, pine, citrus peel, herbal, floral, grass, nuttiness, pepper, and earth. Nice and pleasant aromas with good balance and decent strength. Taste of caramel, grapefruit, herbal, pine, floral, grass, bread, pepper, orange, and earth. Fair amount of earthy bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of caramel, citrus, pine, herbal, grass, pepper, bread, and earth on the finish for a good bit. Nice balance and complexity of flavors; minimal cloying flavors on the finish. Medium-high carbonation and medium body; with a lightly creamy and very crisp mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is very well hidden with hardly any warming present on the finish. Overall this is a very good English IPA! Nice balance and flavor complexity; very smooth to drink. Very enjoyable.

Serving type: bottle

09-26-2012 03:58:33 | More by superspak