Thumper
Rhinelander Brewing Company

12oz can from Trader Joe's. Light amber pour with a short-lived fizzy head. Aroma is malty and sweet. Taste is also malty with metallic notes. Taste like you're licking the can.

Poured from a bottle into a pint glass. Pours deep orange red with a tiny white head. Smells of citrus hops with some grain notes. Tastes of weak citrus hops and sweet grain. Beer is light bodied and easy drinking, good carbonation. Overall, an average beer.

Pours a lot darker than most all IPAs. Not much carbonation which somewhat messes with the taste. Very sweet on the nose. Taste was not great, very sweet and almost a chemically create citrus flavor.

L: Orange-gold in color with a slight opacity; fizzy head keeps a layer on top and leaves light spotting
S: A bit light, maybe too much sweetness from malts for an IPA, though some herbal and citrus notes come through
T: The taste doesn't deviate, showing some citrus and grassy / herbal notes but a bit too much caramel before it goes pithy and a little harsh despite lacking a certain strength
F: The body is medium but the sweetness is a bit much, detracting from both the cleaner aspect and the crispness, and following with a bit of a harsh bite into the finish

Pale clear amber in color. More floral notes on the nose, would have guessed this to be a Belgian style in a blind tasting. Not super hop-punchy considering the listed 78 IBUs. Higher ABV at 6.8%. Bottled from Total in MKE.

 

Mostly clear burnt orange body, solid billowing off-white head that leaves tight lace. Nose is heavy-handed with orange rind, solid bread crust maltiness behind it. Flavor is also heavy with orange rind and its bitterness, also with biscuit/caramel malt in about equal aspects with the hop presence. Some would call balanced, I call it not an American IPA but a red ale, to its detriment. Body is medium weight with assertive carbonation, all which gives it character but isn't irresistible.
A middle of the road IPA; it gives solid but monotonous hop flavor, with an overbearing, uninteresting, and awkward malt backbone.

 

It doesn't taste or smell bad, but its really not what I expect for an IPA.
I would drink this again especially if it was free, but I'd never seek it out or recommend it.
Overall this brewery is cheap, and its beers are never great IMHO

 

 

Had as Boatswain American IPA. Pours a clear, dark amber with a fairly thick, though not persistent, pale golden tan head. Aroma is not at all strong and hardly registers. Flavor is malty, a little sweet, slightly hoppy, more like a regular ol’ ale than an IPA - and even for a "normal" ale still mediocre. Texture has average body and fizziness. Overall, meh, but still drinkable.

Slightly aggressive pour from 650ml (22oz) bottle into a tulip glass. Served at about 3C (40F) but let it warm up to almost room temp while sipping on it.

L: Looks quite nice, a brighter amber colour. Quite clear, very little cloudiness.

S: Smell is very minimal, a slightly sweet smell of lighter fruits. Very small hint of hops smell.

T: While the taste is quite pleasant, it certainly doesn't taste like an IPA. Especicially an IPA that goes on and on about how hoppy it is. There is maybe a small hint of hoppiness, but nothing like any of the good hoppy IPAs that I've had. Taste is somewhat sweet with hints of lighter sweet fruits. The IBUs are listed on the bottle at 79, but that is just not true at all. Very little bitterness, if it wasn't on the bottle I'd have guessed about 35-40 IBUs.

F: Smooth, slightly carbonated, quite dry.

O: While it's a pleasant tasting beer, it doesn't even taste like an IPA. Especially not an IPA that is listed as 79 IBUs and raves about how hoppy it is on the bottle. Sweet, pleasant taste, but not for a hop-head that's looking for a nice, hoppy, bitter IPA.

I would give this a much better rating if it wasn't listed as a hoppy IPA. It would make a quite tasty american pale ale if that's what they marketed it as.

 

 

 

OK taste, a bit sweet and Carmel tones, not the usual ipa taste. Very drinkable.

 

L - Fairly dark orange brown. hazy. Thin, white head. Not persistent.
S - Mostly malt. Biscuit. Unusually light hop character.
T - More bitterness than I expected from the aroma. Sweet bready malt is still fairly prominent. Finishes with fairly strong resiny hops.