Facelift IPA
Moon Hill Brewing Co. / Gardner Ale House

 

 

 

 

Served in a pint glass at the Gardner Ale House.

Appearance: A one finger head was poured that reduced to a thin layer. It is a pale orange color with great clarity and vision of bubbles coming up through the glass. Frothy lacing down the glass as the beer was drank.

Smell: Toasted, pale , and bready malts followed by light citrus and fruity hop notes.

Taste: Chewy and some sweet characteristics with fruity notes and light bitterness in the rear.

Mouthfeel: Light bodied, chewy, medium carbonation, and slight bitterness.

Overall: Very traditional EIPA. Just what I expected and very enjoyable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Golden copper body color with a white creamy head that faded quickly to a film and then into a ring around the glass.

Some faint Citrus, floral and pine mixing with a bready malt. Nice aroma.

Some pine and citrus and a balanced malt background. I don't get the floral aroma that I did smell. Very tasty brew; it's not too bitter but enough to I would consider it a IPA. Very smooth transition from the sweetness to the subtle bitterness.

Light to medium carbonation, medium body. Very smooth going down. It feels dry but my mouth feels moist. Feels really good.

I like this IPA a lot. Very smooth, the transition from sweet to bitter is subtle but works. The body feel is definitely one of the highlights. I wish they sold this in stores.

This beer is a midling to good IPA but nothing brilliant. I bought a growler of this at GAH. Once the beer settles a bit, the head is quite prodigious, with a thick creamy and foamy head and tons of lacing. When the beer is a bit colder the head retention is diminished. The beer is a classic amber looking beer, quite clear, medium bodied, but just barely. The nose is slightly piney hop, maybe a touch of orangey hop, with pretty traditional English malts underneath.

The taste is a bit less than hoped for. The piney hops are just not that estery and juicy and there really is no orange presence in the bittering blend. It is a slightly biting hop, fairly sweet, but without the nice estery fruitiness or the sappy pine notes. The hops exhibit lots of bite but not enough interesting flavors, fruitiness, burst, or pine to really bring some distinctiveness to the beer. It's just a bit too biting, maybe some slight English toffee in the malty middle, but the bland hoppy bite and slight thinness really detract from the beer. It's a middling to good beer, but that's all I'll give it.

Enjoyed this brew at the brewery with brewer Dave, and at home that same night from a growler. Dave talked it up as sort of a Brit/USA style hybrid IPA. Pours cloudy (Dave doesnt filter any of his beers, I learned) medium brownish amber, Nice quality indicating tiny bubble, creamy khaki head, that leaves loads of fine sheeting and then spotty lace. Floral hop nose. Smooth and soft on the tongue, everything about this one says quality craftsmanship and tastyness. More of a floral and lightly/smoothly resiny hop profile. Hops quite present but not over the top. Bready malts, shining and moderatly sweet, with perhaps a rye note tossed in for added complexity. Well done, very enjoyable, wish I was local I could get to try more of GAH's brew. I def. would enjoy this IPA on a regular basis.

Facelift IPA, 6.2% ABV, is loaded with English Hops and using a traditional English IPA recipe, this beer will happily lift your face as your palate explores its bitter, yet smooth effect. Facelift's up front bitterness gives way to a mellow depth of flavor that will have you requesting another pint.

Reviewed on 06/22/2009. I had this on draft. This beer pours a cloudy dirty orange. The flavor isof light hop oils but overall is indistinct. The flavor is of bland malt and hops. The palate is rather watery. I didn't think that this was bad but basically it's just a bland IPA.

Screw-top growler filled at brewpub.

Poured into an imperial pint glass, formed a 1/2" light beige head over almost clear orangey amber brew. Head falls slowly, with heavy coating lace. Aroma is slightly sweet with a moderate amount of citrusy hops. Taste has a lemony citrus character throughout, with an undercurrent of maltiness at the beginning, and plenty of bitterness from center to close. Mouthfeel is soft and smooth, with great drinkability. Another pleaser from GAH.

Hazy copper color, not much of an aroma, but a very smooth, velvety, pleasant texture as it goes down. Full-flavored, yet dry, crisp, and very drinkable: something I could see having during any season and with most any food.

I like very strong flavors--spicy food, sharp hops, aroma, etc.. Along these lines, the Facelift IPA doesn't have the "big" quality of a West Coast IPA (e.g. Lagunitas, Stone, Santa Cruz), which admittedly is my favorite kind of beer, but it manages to thread the needle and have the crispness we know and love in an English style IPA while going down VERY easy. Therefore, the lower marks I gave were not so much for the qualities it had, but the ones it doesn't. It strikes me as a somewhat hoppy IPA that would be a great way to introduce a person who doesn't like overbearing flavor to an IPA.

On tap at the brewpub.

A-Clear copper amber with a thin creamy white head and good lacing.

S-Malty nose with a very light hop presence.

T-Crisp and bitter with a sweet malt finish. Very hoppy for an English style IPA, which is not a complaint.

M-Medium bodied, crisp and dry.

D-Quite nicely drinkable, at the high end of sessionable.

HV