India Pale Ale
Empyrean Brewing Company

This beer is the spring 2005 Beer Quest winner. It pours a nice copper color, and is slightly opaque; A 1/2" dark, creamy head forms, then dies down all too quickly. Moderate lacing. The aroma of this beer isn't as strong as that found in some other IPAs, but the variety of smells found in this IPA make up for it; there's pine, citrus, and floral aromas to be had.

The best way to describe the taste of this beer is "balanced". The bitterness from the hops is strong, to be sure, but it isn't wildly overdone. The malt does a good job of bringing additional flavor to the beer; the caramel flavor present complements the bitterness very well. The mouthfeel is quite good: enough to make your tongue notice, yet not assault it. Finishes very crisp, leaving an aftertaste that is nearly more herbal than bitter.

I'm glad to see this beer back again; stop by Lazlo's/Fireworks and have some before it's gone once again. If only this was a year-round beer...

Coppery-gold in hue with a slight tawny highlight, largely clear, in other words it has a typical IPA exterior. It was served with a tiny off-white head that was less than a fourth of an inch in height. The head retention was okay, if faded fairly quickly to a soapy collar. Subsequent lacing was minimal. Like every damn beer served at Lazlo’s it is too cold to really appreciate the aromas, I could detect notes of piney, slightly citrusy hops and some hints of toasty, caramely malts. Standard aromas for the style but it just too damn cold to really enjoy them! The palate is a pretty well balanced IPA, the hops do shine upfront with good piney, citursy flavors, in the middle the malt is detected, caramel and toasty biscuits. At the finish the hops reassert themselves and it is nicely bitter. Long hoppy aftertaste. Medium/medium-full in body, natural carbonation, kind of low which is typical of all of Empyrean’s beers. This is a bit odd considering a home brewer from Omaha, Terry Pratt, brewed this IPA, he was the winner of February 2004’s BEER QUEST IPA. Kudos Terry! I found this to be a highly quaffable and pleasant IPA. I wish this were added to Empyrean’s core lineup… in bottles! We need more hops in Nebraska! Recommended.