Yippie IPA
St Andrews Brewing Company

definitely one of the more modern ipa types we had in scotland, had this on tap at a stuffy country club type place overlooking the old course and the ocean, pretty epic surrounds if you like the golf environment, and having this in a place like that elevated it some, but its nice beer, less malt interference than is common there, even in the hoppy beer, and with more of an american northwest type hop profile, high alpha, piney, and boldly dosed compared to so many others we had on our trip. unfiltered looking, pale and still pretty bright, lots of bubbles, great carbonation really, peaky white head on top from the tap. it smells crisp and dry, woodsy and bitter, clean and simple, near neutral on the ferment which was not the norm in scotland, and i like the robustness, freshness, and tidiness right away. the flavor is good, light on the malt side, and loaded with more familiar hop character, more of an american ipa for real, some spruce, some bitter citrus, lemon, and some grassiness, its not overdone or harsh, and it has great snappy back end bitterness which stands more or less alone with such a modest grain base for this and clean ferment. some zesty lime, some oily hop linger, faintly spicy as it warms too, spirited carbonation the whole way, awesome full flavored pint with a lighter body and maybe a bit more refined than a lot of its competition. very objectively good beer, well hopped, hit the mark.

 

 

330ml Can, Sainsbury's supermarket (£1.80):
A golden body with a thumb-sized, foamy white head that settles just under 1cm tall. It's fresh smelling initially with citrus, dry hops & a little pine then a sharp, fruity finish. The hops & bitterness are more pronounced with the taste, I got grassy flavours & citrus with some pine & grapefruit towards the middle. It's moderately carbonated, dry & tangy with some faintly tropical flavours & a good balance throughout. 

 

 

A nicely balanced IPA, predominantly passion fruit from the hops with toffee notes from the malts. Definitely not as hoppy as the label suggests but still a nice beer nevertheless.

Picked up from Lidl for £1.50