For Forked Shake Milkshake IPA (Raspberry Edition)
Forked River Brewing Company

 

Bottle: Poured a hazy pink color ale with a large white foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma of raspberry with some floral hoppy notes of citrus that paired remarkably well. Taste is a mix of light sweet raspberry puree with some citrusy flora hops notes with noticeable residual sugar notes. Body is full with good carbonation. Well brewed and the flavours paired better than I was expecting.

473 mL can from the brewery; packaged Sept 6 2017 and served slightly chilled. I've had a lot of beers over the years, but the whole 'milkshake IPA' thing is completely foreign to me (i.e. this is the first I've had to date).

Pours a turbid pinkish-purple colour, capped off by an inch of foamy pink-tinged head. This layer has largely dissipated by the five minute mark; a thick collar remains, with an attractive curtain of lace having been drawn above it. The aroma is astonishingly close to what I'd imagine of a 'raspberry milkshake IPA' - fruity and moderately sweet, with milk sugar, tart raspberry and strawberry ice cream accents coming through loud and clear. Minor notes that are also discernible include grapefruit & orange citrus, passion fruit and lychee.

A tasty brew, though it sort of hovers in a grey area somewhere between fruit beers and pale ales - leaning a bit more towards the former vs. the latter. Strawberry and lactose sweetness come through at first, with the raspberry flesh tartness asserting itself towards the finish (and persisting into the aftertaste). The hops are more of a secondary aspect, providing notes of citrusy grapefruit and orange, as well as a few indistinct suggestions of tropical fruit - passion fruit or papaya maybe? Very little bitterness on the back end, with the milk sugar and raspberry largely neutralizing any hop astringency that might otherwise be present. Medium-full in body, with low-ish carbonation levels that gently impress upon the palate. Silky-smooth, pleasurable texture, which is in line with the milkshake theme I suppose.

Final Grade: 4.1, an A-. I love raspberries, so it's no surprise that For Forked Shake Raspberry Edition was right up my alley - its soft, luxurious mouthfeel and widely disparate flavours (including juicy raspberry, citrusy hop bitterness and lactose sweetness) combine in total harmony. I know that Bellwoods has been doing this sort of thing for a while... but I don't live near Toronto, so it's great to see SW Ontario breweries such as Forked River willing to fill in the milkshake IPA gap for those of us who don't reside in the center of the universe. Fantastic stuff; can't wait for the next variant.