Switch Blade IPA (India Pale Ale)
Four String Brewing Company

 

L) Pours a lovely, light honey color with a healthy white head. Good retention and lacing in my snifter.

S) There is a subtle sweetness that is similar to orange blossom honey. That is backed up with almost a spicy tangerine rind and resinous hop profile.

T) The beer tastes very clean. The honey-like sweetness is very light and refreshing, and the hop profile doesn't linger too long. This is an easy drinker for sure, be ready for pine and citrus.

F) Has a medium carbonation and a very light mouth-feel. I usually like IPAs with more body, but the feel works quite well with the taste profile.

O) This is a surprisingly solid IPA. I particularly like the malt profile, it's so light and honey-like, but it isn't cloyingly sweet at all. This is an easy six-pack to burn through.

 

 

Slashing, smashing and dissecting any would be malt base makes Four String's flagship IPA a rockstar of an hop bomb. Classically American but with a midwest flare, Switch Blade introduces tropical flavor to bring the hop heads calling like groupies to a Grateful Dead show.

Switch Blade IPA comes with a deep golden color with a tinge of orange and light amber. Its creamy white foamy cap trails with lace and a host of tropical, citrus and herbal aromatics. Caramel, honey and the slight toastiness of graham cracker hit the early palate with a malty sweet upstart.

But as the hops charge in, the resinous bitterness and its fruit filled brightness dries the malts and ushers in a hoppy middle palate that's unrelenting in flavor and bitterness. Pink grapefruit, fresh orange peel, mango and a hint of passionfruit tingle the tastebuds ahead of a grassy bitterness laced with muddled pine needles and herbal teas.

Medium bodied and bittersweet, the beer finishes on a drying path but its malty rebuttal stops shy of complete dryness. In true midwest fashion, the bitterness is strong but supported with malt. The most staunch hop heads will want a drier, more hop dominant and lopsided taste. But the imbibers of balance will embrace this IPA, right down to its long, fruity and bitter crescendo.

Can to tulip glass. Pale gold, thin head and body that is also on the weak side. Not much fragrance, some distant hop aroma's that disappeare quickly. A very average beer that is really closer to an American Pale Ale. Not bad at all, just not distinctive enough to seek out.

Description: Clear with just a touch of haze. Light golden/pale color with a bit of white head and lacing. Smell is a little fruit, a little pine, but altogether pretty subtle and muted. Taste is similar in that it's sort of reserved with maybe a bit of melon up front followed by a slightly bitter finish. Feel and carbonation were both a generic "medium".

Suggested food pairing: Ballpark hot dog

If you like this beer then you should also try: Go into a beer store and ask for the most 'meh' IPA available

Overall: 3.75 (This beer is good but I would not likely drink it again) A very average, run of the mill iPA. Not bad, just not impressive. If you haven't had this you're not missing much. You've probably had dozens just like it.

 

Can to snifter. Gold and clear. Smell is on the flowery side of the hop spectrum. Taste is more of the flowery up front, but finishes with citrus, tangerine mostly. Bitterness is late, strong punch quick fade. Feel is quite dry. This one is closer to the pale end than IPA for me. Overall nothing bad sticks out, but similarly no unique or memerable positive aspect either

 

The CANQuest (tm) is honored to add anything from Four String BC to the list since one of its movers & shakers is none other than Larry, Larry, Larry ! Horowitz, who brewed & did jack of all trades stuff for Iron Hill for years. Larry, Larry, Larry is a fellow veteran & a really great, unassuming personality to be around. His knowledge is seCANd-to-none & while I was sorry to see him depart for Ohio, I know how to find him.

The Crack! was untoward for the first time in a day-and-a-half. I have become satiated on trying my luck with an inverted Glug for the interim, so a gentle Glug was in order. I got two fingers of dense, foamy, tawny head with decent retention for my efforts. Color was a mildly hazy Amber to Deep Amber/Light Copper (SRM = > 9, < 13) and I again have to wonder if my reefer is not the culprit. Every beer that I have opened today that has begun hazy has clarified as it approaches room temperature. I am not going to adjust the setting on my reefer, either, as I keep food in there. Nose had a pine and caramel odor, along with a light oakiness. Mouthfeel was medium. The taste was very piney, but I also felt like I tasted oak, as though it had been barrel-aged or perhaps simply aged won oak chips. Either way, between pine and oak, it had a very wood-y flavor. It was kind of different for the style, but I think that such was part of the attraction for me. I will cop to being a self-avowed, self-described hophead & as such, I tend to gravitate to and drink a LOT of AIPAs. It never gets old, for me, but it also means that anything out of the norm really stands out. It was dry, but less due to its hops and more because of the oakiness that reminded me of a red wine.

 

 

 

I got the switch blade from a mix 12pck that I bought in Willard, OH. It poured a clear copper with white head that is leaving a spotty lace. The scent is sweet malt with some pine. The taste is nicely balanced and leans bitter. There is pine and just a hint for bitter citrus. The Mouthfeel is medium in body with good carbonation. Overall it's a solid beer and well worth the a try.

Can dated 072216. Go figure- best by? If so then by last can of brass knuckle was expired.

A: pours a slightly hazy deep orange/copper with less than 1/2 finger off-white head that quickly subsides. Lots of small-bubble carbonation. Modest retention of a little skim, pretty decent lacing.

S: sweet stone fruits: peaches, nectarines, dried apricots honey and malt.

T: starts sweet and fruity, then transitions to a maltier and less sweet middle with a funky hoppy dankness that seems to be their house style. Not really bitter at all.

M: softer and less carbonated than the appearance lets on. Heavier side of mid-weight, quite clean despite the texture and sweetness. Feels like an APA or a DIPA.

O: a good, balanced, sweeter, fruit forward IPA. Nothing spectacular, but good. Actually, I would rate this much higher as an APA; by that measure, it's actually quite excellent. Good for an occasional change up from Burning River.