Brews Brothers Blazing Arrow Tawny IPA
Parallel 49 Brewing Company

Very cloudy with a fair bit of sediment to it, golden straw colored with some darker apricot hued highlights to it, pours with a finger and a half of yellowish frothy head that has a very good retention to it and leaves a clingy film of lace on the glass.

Moderately strong aroma, sweet and fruity smelling with good notes of marmalade, melon, apricot and some faint trace of mangoes.

Flavor is dense and fruity forward with a good, almost jammy apricot, marmalade and ripe ruby red grapefruit flavor, as well as some slight cantaloupe hints to it.

Medium bodied with an average amount of carbonation to it, moderately sweet with a solid almost chewy biscuty malt base to it with a ghostly suggestion of coffee on the back end.

Finish is rather mellow and smooth for a west coast IPA, mild hoppy with a leafy green, vegetal flavor with hints of pine resin and menthol that linger along with a sticky sweetness on the aftertaste.

 

P49/Gigantic 'Blazing Arrow' @ 6.0% , served from a 650 ml bottle purchased for $6.50
A-pour is gold from the bottle to a amber in the glass with a medium beige head leaving a spotty lace along the pint
S-caramel malt , some citrus
T-malty , bitter swallow
MF-decent carbonation , medium body
Ov-just an ok beer
prost LampertLand

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

650ml bottle, part of the new configuration of the current P49 'Brews Brothers' packaging - now a four-pack of bombers with a 'West Coast' theme. The guest brewer here is Portland's Gigantic, and together they have made an IPA whose delta just seems to be a darker than pale hue.

This beer pours a clear, medium bronzed amber colour, with two fingers of puffy, loosely foamy, and bubbly beige head, which leaves some dissipating sudsy fog bank lace around the glass as it quickly sinks away.

It smells bigly [sic] of orange and red grapefruit citrus peel, further kind of mixed tropical fruit notes, grainy and doughy caramel malt, and some edgy leafy, floral, and slightly resinous pine green hop bitters. The taste is gritty and grainy caramel/toffee, blood orange, lemon, and grapefruit rind, more exotic fruitiness (pineapple and stonefruit, mostly), estery pine resin, and some plain leafy, weedy, and floral verdant hoppiness.

The carbonation is fairly laid-back in its lackadaisical frothiness, the body a solid middleweight, and generally smooth, with a wee airy creaminess sneaking in as things warm up a tad around here. It finishes off-dry, the malty and fruity sweetness doing well to stem the lingering hop bitterness.

Overall, this is a decent enough version of the style, with the tawny appearance not particularly unique or relevant, really. Flavourful, and balanced in that crazy manner that fans of bold brews can appreciate, with no apparent warming from the extra point of alcohol. Good stuff.

Brews Brothers Volume 3, collaboration with Gigantic Brewing of Portland, Oregon.

A: Lightly cloudy amber with off-white head.
S: Tropical fruit in syrup, just a little pine resin.
T: Pine. Tropical fruit.
F: A little heavier than medium. Perhaps just a tiny bit too much carbonation.