Brutus Xtra Dry IPA
Riverwalk Brewing

Pint can: 11/28/18
Opened on 5/5/19 (so much for fresh)

This is maybe my fourth or fifth version of this new style. Not very impressed by the previous, but I keep an open mind.
I love the idea of this style, so let's see if Riverwalk can change my mind..

A light and very dry IPA sounds great...Xtra dry sounds even better>>let's hope this version has some hop flavor!

Pale gold color, almost clear, fizzy and active look, bubbly white foam spreads out quick. Pretty much what I would expect a Brutal IPA to look like.

The nose is much more impressive than the previous versions I've had, it's not just "effervescent", it actually has some very nice hearty and sweet fruity aroma's from the hops. Some light, golden grainy style malt scent as well. Certainly not very pungent or complex, but again, pretty much what I would expect from the style.

Fairly Impressed by the first sip, as it has much deeper hop flavors and that classicly sharp, light and dry effect in a major way. Now, I like the dry feel and I really like the jazzy crispness. The hops are a bit muddled, with no specific flavors except for a bit if dry fruits and grainy earthiness. Very light in flavor...but more complex than any of the others I've had this far.
It's hard to believe this light feeling, effervescent style beer clocks in at 7.5 %abv.....there is no heat and is as clean as easy as any session IPA I can think of. Champagne IPA it is!
Overall...this is my far my favorite of the style. I still want more hop
complexity and character, and I still get plenty of very light but effective malt tones, despite the rather cryptic message on the can: " Utilizing a unique brewing process and special enzymes to trim away the excess malt charechter". What's left is a pretty nice and seriously light malt charechter.

Overall, it's a unique style that needs to bump up the hop complexity if it wants to survive, but for now I'm rather intrigued by the style. Brutus is the best one so far.

 

 

 

 

 

Woah, never had anything like this!
It’s quite the experience, not perfect or even close but this is a new and interesting style.....

Not a big fan of the latest 'brut' craze and this offering is a perfect example of why. The "special enzymes to trim away the excess malt character" (their words) simply takes out the overall taste sensations of an IPA and leave it with a watered down feel. It has just a hint of any flavor, drinkable but it simply has no flavor punch one would expect in an IPA. Totally lacks the hop forward /dry finish of a standard IPA and is not fruity or citrusy at all. Those who like Lite beer instead of a full bodied lager will probably prefer this over a full bodied IPA. That being said, at 7.5% it is a much more potent lite beer.

I have had maybe five Brut IPAs thus far, and have had incredibly specific misgivings with each one. Fine, fine... "it's a new style, so why should it be perfected so soon after its inception?," you might ask. This style just doesn't have legs yet, honestly, and in a world of incredible, intense, constant research into new ways to tweak the IPA, for there to be so little to bring this "style" to true fruition at even ten months old is surprising to me. I haven't had the highest rated examples, I will admit. But, I've had what I can get, and that's how I'm going to judge the style as I can experience it. So, perhaps these local brewers are not succeeding, are lying and have bad intentions with their beers while trying to get an edge on a hyper-current market, and/or they just are just plain phoning-it-in. Whatever the case, this stuff isn't great. I'd like to put that statement on the record.

Pours an intensely clear and hilariously overly-filtered bright golden color. This looks like the very fizzy yellow beer that craft beer fans claim to hate. Of course, this whole sub-style is, in a sense, a backlash against/response to the overly-hazy, turbid IPA craze, but this fact does little to placate me as I witness this beer fall into my glass, its tiny head (if we can even call it that) struggling to stay vaguely present amidst an upward surge of bubbles. I just plain don't like how this sits in my glass; just as it isn't impressive to make super cloudy beer these days, it is similarly unimpressive to make boring-looking fizzy beer. Doubly so when it isn't a super fresh tasting pilsner something.

The nose has a striking characteristic of diacetyl, pretty much crowding out any other element I could expect to note right off the bat. I suppose if I truly dig, there are elements of melon and light lemon peel along with a faint whiff of neutral barley malt, but... this is pathetically devoid of character.

The flavor is actually not too bad... it almost has a sake-like character with some light florals and rice-like flavor combining with the aforementioned honeydew melon. There's some light citrus here, and the diacetyl is pretty much nonexistent. Very interesting, to be honest. This is more up my alley, and is slightly changing my opinion about the beer overall. That said, it still doesn't taste like an IPA. It's more like a weird rice ale in character. There isn't much fruitiness, and the bitterness is curtailed by the intense dryness and carbonation. I don't really like this beer at all... it just so happens to be the first brut IPA I've been able to have all alone to drink, consider, and write about. It does nothing in particular to garner much ire, as it is but an unassuming entry into the stylistic halls-to-be... but, it is not good beer anyway, and thus deserves to be characterized as such.