Strong Arm IPA
Three Heads Brewing

 

16 oz can from Tavour. Hazy golden with big, fluffy head. Aroma is citrusy, bready. Taste is, more of the same, citrusy, mild tart bitterness, somewhat juicy. Nice feel, thick.

A thanks to the founding father of the canquest, woodychandler, for this beer. Poured from a 16 oz. can. Has a slightly hazy orange/golden color with a 1/2 inch head. Smell is of tropical fruits. Taste is oranges, tropical fruits, moderate bitterness. Feels medium/full bodied in the mouth and overall is a solid beer.

This may have been retired, but FLBC in Ithaca has it on tap now, so the growler I brought home is tasting pretty fresh. Its look is a most peculiar light orange-brown murky NEIPA turbid SRM 4 with extra whiteness.
Pours from the growler into Spiegelau IPA glasses still getting lots of persistent vanilla colored head. As we drink, with gizzards and fava bean snacks, the lacing is excellent.
Smells fruity floral juicy. Tastes a lot like this smell, with oak and wheat dough bun bready softness and nearly no hop bitters. Mouthfeel is sweet smooth easy-drinking, a bit sissy for my palate. Do you like hot dog buns? Not me.
OK, so I'm not a big fan of the New England wheat/oat ale style, but still this is more like an IPA than most NEIPAs I've not enjoyed.
I'd drink this again if a bitter-hater brought me some; otherwise, give me something with more than 80 IBUs of honest biting bitterness. Maybe it's genetic? I like quinine, bitter melon, grapefruit rinds, too. Fruit in this ale is more like navel oranges. The "strong arm" label is gorgeous, as are all the Three Heads graphics, but in a growler I have only the "strong" to remember from Finger Lakes Beverage Center's tap list, and this isn't strong enough for a hops bitters lover.

L: Had this beer on-tap at Gene's Haufbrau, poured into a pint glass. Had an orange-ish color and an extremely cloudy consistency. There was a half inch of foamy, somewhat long-lasting head. Good lacing.

S: A very nice aroma of hops, citrus fruit, a floral quality, malt, lactose, and tropical fruit.

T: Tasted of a moderate amount of hops (not overdone), lots of tropical fruit (mango, in particular), a little bit of lactose (not a huge factor), and a good shot of citrus fruit (orange). A much more subtle flavor than I expected, but still pretty tasty. It's quite well balanced considering it's basically a New England IPA.

F: A decent amount of carbonation with a creamy, smooth finish. Medium-bodied.

O: A solidly made, easy to drink IPA. Worth a look.

 

 

L: Pours a murky orange color with about a finger of white head. Some nice lacing remains around the glass.
S: Smells of mango, tangerine, papaya, pineapple.
T: Nice and juicy with tropical fruit flavors from the nose coming through with minimal bitterness. A nice creamy finish but the can doesn't say anything about lactose so it must be from some of the hops.
F: Medium bodied and carbonation with a nice creamy mouthfeel.
O: A nice drinkable low ABV NE style IPA. The hops work nicely together.

Love it's cloudy NE fresh hop IPA character -a 3Heads standout!

Bring in the lefty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Being a Belgo-Phile, I very rarely get easily impressed by an AIPA when it is between me and my meal. (In truth, I can't finish the IPA fast enough so my buds can recover before the meal arrives.

No so with this IPA, I wanted the meal to arrive late so I could enjoy Strong Arm. (It turns out it went well with an appetizer of smoked eggplant.)

Strong Arm Looks only slightly above average. Smells take me to the next level with some intense, fruity hops. Tastes are complete with the hops let the malts come into play and they clearly have been improved by a nice yeast. The ale comes together nicely in the mouth and, unlike what most AIPAs do to my buds, Strong Arm has a low level of bitterness.

I probably would not have this again, but that mostly is because I rarely have an AIPA twice. That's just me.

This is by far their best to me because it pretty much nails the new england style.