5 Barrel Brewing American IPA

Rating:

20994112_739838442866970_8358594505077499203_n“India Pale Ales (IPAs) highlight the amazingly varied world of hops. Our West Coast American style IPA has little to no malt character, allowing the great mix of American hops to shine. Judicious layering of hops provides a complex set of piny, zesty, fruity flavours. Despite being nice and strong, our IPA maintains a great balance and sessionability. The dry body carries the firm bitterness and hop flavours through to finish.”

Served in an IPA glass. This seasonal release offers a bright amber appearance with a thumb of stubborn foam perched on top. A thick and soapy lace is left clinging to the glass as it ebbs.
Nice and zesty on the nose with an emphasis on grapefruit, orange peel and pineapple. Getting a healthy dose of pine and passion fruit along with more subtle scents of rotting leaves and berries. Very shy malt profile – semi sweet and caramelly if anything. Not bad.
The taste is a lot like the aroma. It’s zesty and citrusy with little malt to counter balance. Flavours of earthy herbs and pine roll in to a spicy hop bitterness through the middle. Orange peel and subtle grassy notes prelude the long, dry and super bitter finish.
The mouth feel is crisp and dry with a bit of prickly warmth from the 7% ABV coming through. The 50 IBU is well presented with a drawn out bitterness in the tail. Moderate body, medium co2.
It’s a good IPA but it falls short of being memorable. Considering the delicate malt profile we were hoping to see a lot more character out of the hops. For us, American IPAs are brimming with an assortment of fruits, spice and pine with just enough malt to add that crucial balance. This IPA has glimmers of it….but not enough. Still, not bad.