In Your Face IPA
5 Paddles Brewing Company

 

At my lady Pamela's house; canned and chilled, 473mL, from my favourite LCBO at The Roundhouse Centre in nearby Windsor. My first beer from the Whitby, Ontario brewery.

Sept 8 2025

473ml can served cold into a pint glass. LCBO purchase for around $4 CDN. Canned November 19, 2024.

Appearance - Hazy ruddy orange with some honey brown coloring. A finger and a half of frothy white head is poured. Plenty of haze and good head retention.

Smell - Subdued but candied mangos and pineapples with some passionfruit mixed in. On the sweet side.

Taste - Sweet and juicy with low bitterness. Candied mangos and pineapples again, with a hint of grapefruit pith at the end. Bubblegum is in there somewhere as well.

Mouthfeel - Low carbonation, starts juicy but finishes drier. Medium-full bodied and more sticky than most. Still easy going down.

Overall - A pretty Solid American IPA that is definitely on the sweet side, some may say too sweet. Nonetheless worth trying for any hophead.

473 mL can from the LCBO; dated Nov 19 2024 and served barely chilled.

Pours a hazy pale golden colour, capped with over an inch of bumpy, foamy white head that dissipates within two or three minutes. A frothy collar and filmy cap live on, with modest lace deposition as I sip away at the glass - looks fine so far. Muddled, understated aromas of stone fruit, strawberry, pineapple and mandarin orange, with hints of floral hops and bubblegum.

The flavour profile is pretty balanced, which makes for a highly drinkable, relatively boilerplate hazy pale ale. Grapefruit & pineapple juice at the forefront, giving way to apricot, peach drink, orange and lychee by mid-sip; notes of grassy, floral hops and bubblegum sweetness round out the tail end. Light pine resin-y bitterness and hop acidity dissipate into a fruity aftertaste. Medium in body, with low carbonation that weakly nudges against the palate; the mouthfeel is soft and plush, with solid drinkability.

Final Grade: 3.76, squeaking out a B+. In Your Face IPA is pretty good, but is it really that much better than your average hazy Ontario IPA? The jury's out on that one. This brew doesn't really do anything novel, but it's well-made and quite flavourful - I do like this beer, I just don't think I'd go out of my way for more of it. Worth a shot.

 

 

22 ounce bottle into tulip glass, best before 3/31/2018. Pours fairly crystal clear deep orange/copper color with a 1-2 finger fairly dense and rocky off white head with good retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a moderate amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas of big peach, pear, pineapple, apricot, tangerine, grapefruit, papaya, mango, honeydew melon, guava, strawberry, lemon zest, orange peel, light pepper/pine, toasted bread, light caramel/roast, herbal, and floral/grassy earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of fruity/tropical/citrus hops and moderate bready malt notes; with great strength. Taste of big peach, pear, pineapple, apricot, tangerine, grapefruit, papaya, mango, honeydew melon, guava, strawberry, lemon zest, orange peel, light pepper, pine, toasted bread, light caramel/roast, herbal, and floral/grassy earthiness. Light-moderate pine, citrus peel, herbal, grassy, peppery bitterness on the finish. Lingering notes of peach, pear, pineapple, apricot, tangerine, grapefruit, papaya, mango, honeydew melon, guava, strawberry, lemon/orange peel, pepper, pine, toasted bread, and herbal/floral/grassy earthiness on the finish for a while. Great complexity, robustness, and balance of fruity/tropical/citrus hops and moderate bready malt flavors; with a great malt/bitterness balance, and zero lingering hop astringency after the finish. Light-moderate increasing dryness from bitterness. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, moderately bready/grainy/sticky, and lightly resinous/rindy balanced mouthfeel that is great. Zero warming alcohol for 6.2%. Overall this is an excellent IPA. All around great complexity, robustness, and balance of fruity/tropical/citrus hops and moderate bready malt flavors; very smooth and easy to dring with the modestly bitter/drying finish, never aggressive. Color looked a bit funny to me, but it's not overly malty. Extremely juicy stone fruit/tropical hop complexity; nice bready malt backbone, with adequate lingering bitter dryness. Very unique hop profile. A very enjoyable offering.

 

On tap at the source. Some sweaty funk cheede along with hop aroma
69 ibu and its got the bitterness but taste fair.

 

Poured from a 650 ml bottle. Purchased and consumed April 3, 2016.

L - pale orange, white head which lasts a long time.
S - grapefruit and pine.
T - balance of sweetness and bitterness.
M - medium, medium carbonation.
O - enjoyable, would drink this again.

 

650ml bottle into snifter. purchased nov 13 2015. consumed nov 22 2015

a: white-ish orange with white head. there's a disgusting amount of sediment though

s: lychee bomb with a bit of grapefruit and pine

t: follows the nose but is less fruity. moderate bitterness at the end

m: medium feel with medium-minus carbonation and a good drying finish

o: a good, lychee-oriented IPA

 

 

Purchased at the brew store and served at 5deg C in a tulip glass

A- Opens well and pours a 2" high white head that lasts forever then at film out looks lacy and rich. Nice!!

S- Lots of hops here. Dry hopped well.

T- A bit under hoppy for my liking. Prefer more wet hops and a touch more malt.

M- Dry and tart which is nice

O- Pretty good little brew. Prefer more hops but it is a nice blend to say the least

Food Pairing

This nice little brew went well with....... Roast potatoes and hash with eggs.

Enjoy!!