“We love beer! We love beer so much that we want drink beer pretty much all of the time. Unfortunately the level of alcohol in most beer, with any hint of flavour, has quite the profound effect on us performing as a functioning and productive human. We need a reduced alcohol solution. Enter our ThrowBack IPA. Designed for intelligent and sexy humans who’d like to be able to throw back a few cans of a zealously hopped ale, endowed with an ample malt chassis, and still get on with their day. Pairing suggestion: Cooking, eating, camping, sailing, lawn mowing, home brewing, in-law visiting*, hiking, riding and doing.”
*You may need something stronger after visiting with the in-laws
Served in an IPA glass. The pale amber body is capped off by a healthy two finger head that peels back to a thin overlay with a few specks of spotted lacing being left behind. Carbonation is nice and active, helping to retain the head as it ebbs. The aroma is fantastic. We know it’s a mid strength but we had to double take anyway! We can tell it’s hopped at all stages of the brew as the pungent fruits, pine and citrus come gushing out of the glass. Dominant fruits include passion fruit, pineapple, lychee and fresh orange. The malts work well to back it up too, biscuity but also a little sweet to tie into the fruity and piney hops. One of our main concerns was the weight this IPA was going to offer in the mouth. Amazingly this 3.5% lightweight holds up on the tongue, it’s well carbonated and leaves the palate with a mild but lingering bitterness on the back. Great mouth feel for such a low ABV beer. A lovely splash of citrus fruits and grassy hops get the taste buds buzzing. A subtle biscuity malt tries to work its way through the hops as a clean pine needle character washes over the tongue. Maybe a touch of spice developing as the super crisp and immaculate finish rounds it all off. This is probably one of, if not the best, mid strength IPA’s we’ve ever had. From the pour to the finish this IPA matches its full strength counterparts in aroma, texture and body. Not a skerrick of flavour is forsaken in this delicious low ABV IPA. Kudos Pirate Life, another brilliant beer to add to the repertoire.