Lionshead DIPA
Lion Brewery, Inc.

Lion Brewery, Inc. "Lionshead DIPA"
12 fl. oz. brown glass bottle coded "H2104 LB 2036 OK+" and sampled on 17 June 2022
$9.99/6-pk @ Worldwide Beverage, Philadelphia, PA

Notes via stream of consciousness: I had to pick this up for three reasons: it's reasonably priced; the Lion has made some very good beers before (Liebotschaner Cream Ale is one of my favorites); and I used to know some of the guys there pretty well, particularly Leo "the lion" Orlandini, and they were all very nice to me. It's poured a hazy deep amber/copper in color beneath a short head of off-white foam. The aroma suggests orange, bready and caramelish malt, and mild sweet red berries. It's not the brightest aroma but it is a double IPA and they tend to be more malty than hoppy in the aroma. On to the taste... the maltiness remains and it's bready, caramelish, biscuity, and honeyish. There's a good bit of bruised apple-like fruitiness. The hops deliver notes of orange, resins, passionfruit, citrus, grass, peach, flowers (rose, lily), papaya, and delicate pine. The alcohol is noticeable even at 8.9% but it's not brash, just a little spicy. It's got a good bit of bitterness to it that works it's way through the sweetish malt and it finishes mostly dry as some malt fades and the bitterness and herbal, spicy, resinous, and orange marmalade flavors linger. In the mouth it's medium-full in body and gently crisp. The head held up pretty well for a beer of 8.9% and it's left some very nice lacing about the glass - the lacing is probably better than the head retention. Overall this is a decent DIPA that could be a fall-back-upon beer - I don't think you'd make it a go-to - however $9.99 for a 6-pack isn't that bad given the amount of malt, hops, and alcohol it has.
Review #8,082

 

I am now back to eradicating the Bottle (!) Backlog here at Chez Woody! I found myself returning to The CANQuest (tm), at least for a little while, with The Lion Brewery, but my supply has dried up. The beauty of having so much beer in ab(b)eyance, Beyoncé, is that it allows me to scaffold. That is, I can build a brewery horizontal ranging from lowest ABV to highest ABV & then shift to my next beer from a different brewery based on style.

From the Bottle(!): "The Lion Brewery [-] Established 1905"; "Double India Pale Ale".

Believe it or don't, there are some Bottles (!) that are actually tolerable. Gasp! Plus, they are generally screwed-up screw-off caps! What?!? Yep. The Lion, Narragansett & one other (which escapes me) have rebus puzzles underneath! How f**kin' nerdy-cool is that?!? From the Cap (#296): "Beehive Army Cot H+Eye Hoe+ps". Answer at end of review.

I gave the cap a twist (!) & started a slow, gentle C-Line pour into the awaiting glass. I debated on at what point to back off & I may have waited a tad too long. I got two-plus fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, French Vanilla-colored head with good retention, leaving nice lacing in its wake. However, color was an oh-so-slightly-hazy Amber to Deep-Amber/Light-Copper (SRM = > 9, < 13) & I was left wondering if I blew its clarity. 8=( Nose had a tropical fruit dankness.

Say WHAT?!? I kid you not. I was getting mango & papaya along with a sticky dankness! 8=O From The Lion!?! This would be like Mom-Za offering to fire up a bowl with me! 8=O ROFLMFAO! I gotta find out who they scored from on my next visit. A buddy & I go up to W-B/S occasionally for minor league (AHL) hockey & I like to visit when I can.

Once I stopped laughing, I was able to take my first sip. Mouthfeel was medium-to-full, a bit light for the style. As to the taste … perhaps you have had occasion to fashion a bowl out of an apple? Did you eat it afterwards? Waste not, want not! This tasted like somebody hollowed out a papaya, smoked a dime's worth through it & then threw it in the juicer & served it to me! 8=O I s**t you not! I haven't smoked in a while & especially not now with a USPS job potentially on the horizon, but this was so evocative of tropical fruit & sticky dank as to be ridankulous! I was crying from laughing so hard. 8=) Even better, as I took a small break to stop laughing, it took on a wonderful clarity. 8=O This had to be the most unexpected, unpredictable beer in a long time. Finish had a dank, sticky, tropical fruity dryness that I can't even … Hahahaha. OMFG. YMMV.

Answer: I've (hive) Got (cot) High Hopes! 8=)

 

Orange/copper color. Less carbonation than their IPA. Some legs. Aroma is decent, spice, some citrus. Mouth is less than expected. Taste of bitterness and alcohol heat, licorice notes? Cloying finish. Not terrible, especially for price.

From a 12oz bottle with a cryptic date code into a pint glass. Pours a murky copper color with about a finger of off white head that sticks around for a couple of minutes before dissipating. Fair amount of thin lacing. Smell is sweetish, malty with some alcohol. A little bitterness in the taste with some heat from the 8.9% abv. It's a little bit of a struggle to drink with a bitter, slightly metallic aftertaste. Overall, not a really well put together brew. Has the pro of high abv, if that's your thing, and the con of not really tasting good...

Poured from a brown 12 oz. bottle. Has a copper/orange color with a 1 inch head. Smell is of citrus, tropical fruits. Taste is alcohol, light malts and grapefruit, more alcohol, significant bitterness. Feels medium bodied in the mouth and overall, I wouldn't go out of my way to buy it, but my expectations were not high and it wasn't a bad buy at $9 a sixer for a DIPA.