Session IPA
ShawneeCraft Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

9/1/16 from notes...pours medium dark bronze with heavy fluffy foam. Malty lemon zest nose, fragrant. Smooth citrus taste mellowed. Light hop bite. Quite drinkable. Tasty.

 

 

 

 

 

Poured from the can into a Spiegelau IPA glass.

Golden amber body color, quite orange with a nice amount of carbonation, but also a bit of opaque. Head is a solid and nice fluffy three fingers, settles with pill lacing and a solid two finger puck. Off color white, almost yellow tinged, with a light soapy retention and good creamy top. Pretty nice looker for an IPA.

Soft grains, and softer hop angle. Small sensing mushy caramel oast mixing with a nice floral and citrus aroma. A bit dry powdery on the end as well, but also makes the hops come out a bit more woody and herbal. Pretty solid.

Palate makes the grade. Slightly juiced body pretty impressively for the low abv. Hints of warm citrus and light malt caramel tones hitting the mid palate nicely. Finishes with a bit of grainy flour character slightly, but much of the hop and malt flavors of caramel bring out just a little bit more flavor. Lingering muted and odd astringent bitterness that almost gets to pine.

Pretty solid session IPA

I am getting ready to ship some CANs to a fellow in MaryCANd & while assembling an assortment for him, I realized that I had not added any ShawneeCraft CANs to The CANQuest (tm)! How did that oversight occur? I am doing these reviews as a public service since quality assurance is a priority here at Chez Woody, home of The CANQuest (tm).

From the CAN: "Light in body but bold in flavor (thanks to a copious dry-hopping with Cascade and Amarillo), Session IPA is an outdoor enthusiast's perfect companion. It pairs tremendously with a round of golf, a meandering float down the Delaware River, a scenic hike along the Appalachian Trail, or an exciting bike ride through the National Park. Get yours, and get outside!"

I Crack!ed it open and being that it was a brand-new, Fridge-fresh CAN, I CANducted an inverted Glug. This raised two-plus fingers of dense, tawny head that slowly fell, leaving good lacing in its wake. Color was a slightly-hazy Amber (SRM = > 7, < 9), although it may have been a chill haze as it seemed to be clearing as it warmed. Nose smelled of both grapefruit and a light biscuitiness, the former from the hops, the latter from the malt. Mouthfeel was medium. The taste was grapefruit-citrusy, but muted, which I often find to be the case in Session AIPAs. I am really not a big fan of this sub-style since the aromatic hops mean that the flavor does not follow the nose. This was a perfect example of this disappointing phenomenon. Finish was semi-dry, almost like they had hopped it to the point of saturation with a dusty feeling left in my mouth and in my throat. I have to agree with tone77 in that it left something to be desired.

 

 

 

 

On draft in a 16 ounce pint glass 39F.

Decent color. Copper and translucent.

Lacing is actually really nice. Light yet fizzy.

Aroma is kind of bland, no dry hopping really. Also not a very big fan of the hops used here, but its only a session IPA, so its not very necessary.

Taste is nice on the malt side. Bready, sugary sweet. Well balanced between the malt and hops. Shawnee must have improved their house yeast, because this pretty smooth with a good mouthfeel. For whatever reason though, their house yeast doesn't attenuate well, as this is still a really sweet sugary ale. Session IPA's should have a dry finish..ala Carton Boat Beer, which apparently uses a kolsch yeast and finishes at a low gravity.

The older Shawnee ale yeast had a very earthy quality to it, but it didnt hold well after 10 hours, or in the cans.

The bittering hops in this not ideal for a session ipa.
Very piney, and bold. Better suited for a higher abv ale.

Overall a good local product on draft. Probably not so great in cans though. Nothing earth shattering or new, but good when served fresh, and a much better alternative to Yuengling Lager or IPL.