Jump! IPA
Rivertowne Brewing

 

 

 

Poured into half pint glass: color is gold, some haze, head is off white with fine bubbles and presents 1/4 inch thick and dissipates with some lacing on the glass sides.

Smell is muted, limited to some mixed hop aromas with line pine and citrus, limited maltiness.

Taste is similar, limited flavor with mixed hop flavors and light malt.

Mouthfeel is a bit too bitter or aged with drying presence on the tongue. After reviewing the can I see 80 IBUs even at this strength so it is heavy hopped early in the boil - unfortunately it does not translate in the aroma and flavor.

Overall a serviceable IPA but limited in aroma and flavor with a strong bitter, dry mouthfeel.

 

I have been running through some Rivertowne Brewing beers today & I CANnot think of any reason to stop now. I had heard rumors that things were not all well & good in Export/Monroeville so I snapped up the latest CANs to come our way at The FGBS. I have not heard anything further so I assume that all is well again. Best wishes from The CANQuest (tm)!

From the CAN: "Don't just stand there. Plunge headlong into this adventurously hopped IPA with its flavor complexity ranging from notes of berries, mango, tropical and stone fruits to grass and resin. You'll be glad you did."; "80 IBU".

I have been drinking Rivertowne Brewing beers today & it has been quite the exbeerience. For this one, I wanted to get the Crack! in and begin a quick Glug. Naturally, the former revealed a brimful craft CAN, delaying the latter. Once I finally got things off to a roaring start, a Gussie Glug caused the formation of two-plus fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, tawny head with good retention that left nice lacing in its wake. Color was Golden-Amber (SRM = > 5, < 7) with NE-quality clarity, prompting the return of The Gelt Gang of Mammon, Midas & Croesus, all clamoring for a taste. Why couldn't they have shown up earlier in the day to help me with Devil Anse?!? Nose struck me as rather muted. I got whiffs of pine, citrus & tropical fruits, but only in a very slight way. Hmm. Mouthfeel was medium-to-full, not quite creamy, but certainly big for an AIPA. The taste was as muted as the nose had led me to expect. This was a fairly fresh CAN (although the BB date was smeared) and yet I was struggling to get much distinguishable flavor from it. It held a slight tropical sweetness, light pine, light citrusy bitterness & it was giving me a headache as a result. I shouldn't have to fight to find flavor in an ale! Finish was semi-dry, but it might have been the most boring, nearly-flavorless beer that I have had in a while! Bah. YMMV.

The fairly clear golden amber beer pours out into a Duvel glass with a 1/2” off-white head that slowly but visibly recedes to a thin irregular island of foam while leaving a ring, some foam and some lacing on the sides of the glass. Sipping creates lots of small patches and a few legs of lacing. Even near the end of the beer there are lots of lines, small patches and legs of lacing on the sides of the glass.

The aromas are mostly about the grapefruit, some resin and a strong malt backbone. In the background there is also some citric zest along with some tropical fruits.

The flavors are much as expected from the nose with the grapefruit and resin showcased against some malty sweetness. The background has some tropical fruits, a bit of grassy, floral character and some firm, definite bitterness that doesn’t rasp over the tongue.

The mouthfeel is medium bodied and fairly smooth with the very light carbonation. The medium length finish begins as the sweetness fades a bit to allow the citric, resinous and fruity hops to show more before they move into a nice dry bitter ending that also seems a bit grassy.

On the whole this is a reasonably good IPA and one worth trying if you want lots of hops, a nice malt backbone, and a noticeable level of dry bitterness in the ending. That all said, it won't bump any thing from my regular rotation.