Finestkind IPA - Lemon
Smuttynose Brewing Company

 

This brew was served from the cask at The Blind Tiger in New York, NY. It arrived in a generic mug, glowing a goldenrod coloring. It held a one finger head of creamy off-white bubbles, showing okay retention. Spotty lacing was left around the glass as it went. The beer was hazy, but no sediment was noted. Carbonation appeared mild. The aroma gave woodiness from the start, with a quickly mixing bite from pale malts, bittered phenolic clove, and melted lemon candies. Sweet syrupy sugars, robustly herbal hops, and fusel alcohols also came to play, making things smell much like a lemon scented cleaning wipe. Our first impression was that the citric bitterness was very apparent, and authentic, while the cask offered a nice woodiness on the back. As we sipped, sweeter pale malts, sugary lemon candy, and light chalkiness started things off. The middle moved to peak with soapy and citric hops, cherry sweetness, bittering cask woodiness, and lemon pulp sourness. The finish came with a more herbal hop bitterness, peppery spice, bittered muskiness, fusel booze, and magic marker phenols. The aftertaste breathed of bitter herbal and earthy hops, pale malts, peppery spice, creamy foaminess, and basement muskiness. The body was medium, and the carbonation was low. Each sip was on the thin and watery side, giving only okay slurp or smack, and very little cream or froth. The mouth was left wet, with an eventual astringent dryness. The abv was appropriate, and the beer drank decently.

Overall, what we liked best about this beer was the nice strong flavoring. This showed robust spice and depth to the malt and hop IPA base, with hearty force to propel the lemon flavoring to the forefront. Everything else, however, was just okay. The aroma was muted, while the feel was thin and noncontributory. While this is a great idea for expanding a straightforward IPA, we were hoping for a bit more overarching cohesion.