Friends With Benefits
Limestone Brewing Company

(Served in an American pint glass)

A- This beer pours a hazy pale yellow body with a slow carbonation that works its way up to a snow white head that you could write your name it. Thick and dense the head last for most of the beer sticking to the sides a bit with each sip.

S- The herbal resin green hops has a soft yeasty character but is otherwise pretty clean.

T- The soft tartness of yeast fades to a nice herbal green hops with a pine resin note and some lemon qualities. There is a dry pale malt flavor underneath that starts to show up when the beer warms a bit.

M- The medium mouthfeel has a fullness to it largely due to the head and no alcohol heat noticed.

O- This is a good session beer crisp and good hop flavor with the nice support of the pale malt. Yeast character is a bit softer but is still present.

Friends with Benefits....isnt that what everyone is looking for??? This beer is a great first try of a Belgium IPA. The color was clear golden with white head that laced. The smell was not as powering as I would have expected. The taste however was quite neat. Belgoum sugar/malt used with summit hops made this beer pretty complex. The mouthfeel was good, very balanced beer and probably could drink a few of these without issue. Overall I thought it was a decent beer.

From their website:
5.64% ABV 30 IBUs OG 1.053
This is Limestone’s version of an Illinois Craft Brewers Guild project where 15 Illinois breweries brewed the same beer, an Americanized Belgian Style Pale Ale, using the same malt bill, brewer’s choice of hops and the same yeast strain. We chose to use only Summit Hops for this brew.

Poured into my New Holland Pint glass. Pours a hazy straw with two fingers of tight, stark white head. Head drops slowly leaving a nice cap of foam and tons of lacing.

Aromas of bubblegum yeast, earthy, citrusy hops. Some grainy malt.

Flavors of grainy malt, juicy fruit gum, no real hop bitterness. Bitterness is clean, not harsh,earthy but a tad too low. Very "belgian" in the flavor, has a spicy character.

Mouthfeel is dry, medium/light. With a good level of carbonation. Bitterness is a bit restrained.

Overall, this one is not as hoppy as I was expecting. It is a very flavorful beer. But the alcohol level is too low, the bitterness is too low.

After reflecting during a second glass, the bitterness grows on you, becoming a little more pronounced. Still a bit on the light side for a belgo IPA.