Grandfather West Coast IPA
Village Brewery

 

I count myself lucky to have obtained a bottle of this limited edition product - it even has a cool patch that I won't likely sew on to anything, but it's still mine... A nice looking, bitter IPA. Not face puckering, just leaning to the pine and resin spectrum of hops. This is a "whole package" deal - I saved it, the savoured it on Father's Day in a toast to me.

This just showed up today with a bunch of other crazy stuff from wordemupg. Cheers buddy!!

Pours a rich gold colour with a touch of amber and a faint haze. Topped with a finger of ivory head. Piney, woody hops on the nose with some oranges and pineapple. The sweet bready malts and yeast come through just fine. Taste is much the same with those woody, piney hops, oranges and a bit of pineapple, sweet pale malts with a touch of caramel, some bitter grapefruit rind in the finish. Medium body with soft and smooth, below medium carbonation. Great stuff, enjoying it in this 31C heat!!

 

650ml bottle poured into tulip 17/6/15

A clear orange with bubbles of all sizes, two fingers of foam has decent retention leaving a couple partial rings of lace followed by some random patches

S plenty of citrus, a little soapy, not at all a complete hop runaway with some caramel and bready notes providing balance, some spruce and bruised mango with some dry cereal

T lemon pith, still lots of fruit but has a solid malt backbone, pine and spruce, lots of rind, a little dank, floral, and earthy, finally a beer from Village I'm not ashamed to share with friends

M light, airy, mildly bitter, drinks like a session ale to be honest, a little slick on the palate, lemon cereal finish

O fairly well rounded IPA, nothings over the top but everything's taken care of at the same time

I had a few people tell me this one was worth a try but after their regular lineup I was a hard sell, it may have took a 1000 batches but they got one right here

 

 

 

 

Appearance - Pours a amber with two fingers of foamy white head.

Smell - piney and earthy hops, pine resin, grapefruit peel, bready caramalts, and tropical fruits.

Taste - Bitter piney and earthy hops followed by the pine resin, grapefruit peel, and tropical fruits. The bready caramalts round out the brew.

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Finishes with a pleasant lingering bitterness. The body has a pleasant smoothness to it.

Overall - A well executed IPA from Village. I like the bitterness to this brew but it is still quite drinkable. This is a great way to celebrate Village's 1000th brew.

650ml bottle, a very hard to come by (even getting to the brewery, my eventual success story) offering from this still new-seeming Cowtown suds purveyor. A nice sequel to last year's 'Father' Imperial Red Ale, at least marketing-wise. And cool, retro stitched patch affixed to the label, for whatever reason.

This beer pours a mostly clear, medium copper amber hue, with one finger of puffy, moderately foamy, and sort of bubbly off-white head, which leaves some random winter windshield ice pattern lace around the glass as it slowly retreats.

It smells of dank pine resin, sharp, dried orange, red grapefruit, and lemon peel, a bit of earthy yeast, gritty, grainy caramel malt, and further leafy, herbal, and slightly grassy hop bitters. The taste is bready, mildly doughy caramel malt, an ethereal toffee pudding sweetness, wet white saltine crackers ('cause there's now a whole wheat version, of course), grassy, leafy, and faintly musty pine needle-esque hops, some hard to discern muddled citrus acridity, and a bit of herbal tincture alcohol.

The carbonation is quite gentle in its arm's length frothy handling of my various palates, the body a decent middleweight, and pretty darned smooth, I don't mind saying, the purportedly testy Yankee hops even allowing for a nascent creaminess. It finishes off-dry, the dank figuring that a redux is a good idea in terms of the lingering piney, leafy bitterness, while the gritty caramel sweetness really starts to lose steam as it leaks power like it just don't care.

Nice and bitter, and malty, sure, but this particular west coast IPA tends to stick to the northern realm, if you know what I mean, i.e. more Seattle/Van City, than San Diego. That's not a knock, just an observation, as I find this to be rather drinkable, and a splendid ode to fathers of all types, but especially the sort (mine own included) that would likely look at ya sideways after taking a swig of this. Good thing my own son (well underage, but whaddya gonna do about it?) absolutely lurrrrrrrrves himself some big hoppy-ass IPA (finger dabs). Yup, Grandfather West Coast IPA is a study in changing times.