Breakfast
Maine Beer Company

L - opaque golden, with a large off-white head that sticks around leaving behind a ton of lacing. A very good looking IPA
S - cracker malt, piney hops, and citrus - though somewhat faint
T - Fresh, piney, bitter hops up front and throughout intermixed well with grapefruit, pineapple, and orange with a solid amount of malt and biscuit notes
F - medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Soft and clean
O - a solid DIPA. Simple, but well executed, like most of Maine Brewing's offerings, though I was expecting somewhat more from this brew, being from the now storied trilogy

 

Robust mouthfeel.. superbly balanced.

Pours a deep copper in color with a thick, white, frothy head. Superb lacing left gripping the glass.
Nose is very floral, with pine and citrus. Taste was not as impressive. Taste was very plain pine. Soft mouthfeel with medium bitterness.

 

 

 

 

 

500 mL bottle poured into a snifter.

A: Deep golden color with darker, tawny hues. Just enough haze to be opaque. Huge Rocky off-white head as superb retention and lasts the duration.

S: Very floral up front. Subtle whiffs of Jasmine and lilac. Orange blossom. Fresh Clementine juice, ripe mango, and papaya. Green and grassy notes. Touch of confectioners sugar, freshly baked bread, and a bit of toast. Drizzle of treacle and caramel.

T: Hoppy with some bite and bitterness up front, and with a lot more pine and resin than the nose suggested. Dank. Clean juicy note of Clementine, Meyer lemon, and a big dose of white grapefruit. Very green and oily. Brush of alcohol. Bit of confectioners sugar sweetness, and a little treacle. Grainy and toasty with a bit of cracker. Goes very dry on the finish, but mostly due to hop oil and bitterness. Lemon drop candy, orange gummy wedges and piney bitterness fade out.

M: Medium-full body with a great soft and creamy texture. Stiff and scrubbing carbonation cuts through and lifts, but does not displace the creaminess. Soft hint of alcohol warmth, some rasping hop tannin.

O: A well put-together double IPA that feels a bit like an homage to the West Coast. There is plenty of pine and resin at play, and it isn't shy on the bitterness. There is some new school in here too, though, and the nose showcases more of the playful tropical aromatics. The body also feels fluffy with a higher protein content, rather than ultimately light and dry as a West Coast IPA of old would often be. I really enjoy IPAs like this. It incorporates all the best things we've learned along the way while staying drinkable, and doesn't seem too worried about only appealing to the lowest common hop bro denominator that's only concerned about the juice. There is nice complexity here, the nose is in particular is deeply complex, and I really love the texture.

 

 

Appearance: An impressive bubble show builds a two finger head atop the slightly cloudy golden liquid; solid retention with squiggles of lacing

Smell: Piney bitterness wafts with a distinct marmalade tone

Taste: A hint of caramel malt that is quickly overwhelmed by the marmalade tones; very piney, through the middle, with a fairly high level of dank bitterness in the finish

Mouthfeel: Medium to full body with moderate to high carbonation; some warmth in the gullet

Overall: Brings me back to what a great IPA tasted like before the haze craze

Batch #3, bottled 12/14/24. Holy amazeballs this stuff is most righteous. I must secure at least one case of this magicsauce. One of the best IPAs I've ever had, and easily my fave from MBC. I drink a lot of Lunch and find Dinner on tap occasionally. They, and other MBC IPAs are each fantastic, but pale in comparison with this crisp, way-too-drinkable-for-the-ABV badboy. It's tits out of 10!

 

 

 

 

It pours clear amber but fogs up a little to orange all under a tall puffy but airy khaki head.

The nose is beautifully orangey, super juicy and fleshy with slight hints of spicy dankness and biscuity malt.

Taste adds a cleanly balancing bitterness that's not quite piney but lightly woody via a deftly smooth body with a finely crackly carbonation. The orange almost turns to tropical guava for a short second before a biscuity exhale.

It doesn't taste boozy but I feel some warmth in my ears in short order. Between this, Three Floyd's resurrecting Cimmerian Sabertooth, Missing Mountain's excellent Pickleball Drama, and some new quality black IPAs popping up around the country, I'm loving the revival of West Coast-like potency and bitter dryness without apologies. While at the same time, we can't forget that breweries like Fat Head's have been running the floor uninterrupted all this time.