Strawberry 'shake IPA
The Vineyard and Brewery at Hershey

 

Had this on 2018-02-23 in Columbia, PA from a 12oz can.

A - Hazy golden-orange with lots of floaties and a 2-finger white head and nice lace. The floaties didn't bother me as I drank it.

S - Strawberries, strawberries and more strawberries plus some honey graham cracker and very light dankness.

T - The taste is nowhere near as strawberry infused as the aroma and this flavor appears more on the middle and finish. Upfront is citrus, bread crust and light pine. Middle brings in the somewhat-sweet strawberry and citrus. Finishes with moderately significant piney bitterness and dry with a lingering strawberry "sour tart" and bitterness on the long-lingering finish. One improvement would be have just a little more residual sweetness to better embrace the "strawberry 'shake" concept.

M - Medium body and carbonation. A little prickly and astringent in a good way.

O - Never had a strawberry IPA before and I must compliment the brewer as this is well done.

It gives me great pleasure to add a beer; take, submit & have a picture approved and be the first to review it. This is just one of four new beers recently being CANned by The Brewery at Hershey and all of them will become a part of The CANQuest ™.

From the CAN: “Store Cold*Drink Fresh*Please Recycle”; "A hazy milkshake style IPA with Belma hops and real strawberry. Contains lactose."

Whoa! Upon Crack!ing the vent, I got some foaming action that, upon settling, revealed a brimful craft CAN. Such being the case, I performed a slow, gentle Glug into the awaiting glass. This had the unexpected, pleasant result of creating a glassful of beer with Yellow-Gold color (SRM = 4 -5) with NE-quality clarity, prompting an impromptu visit from The Gelt Gang of Mammon, Croesus & Midas. An in-glass swirl produced better than three fingers of fizzy, foamy, tawny head that slowly faded away to wisps, leaving decent lacing in its wake. The nose was redolent with strawberry, so kudos for truth in advertising, but is this appropriate for the style? Remember, reviews are to be done to style, not to taste. Mouthfeel was medium-to-full, not quite creamy, but big for the style. The taste was certainly of strawberry, but where was the hallmark bitterness? It was labeled as "45 IBUS", but that is too low to qualify for high marks. Finish was semi-sweet. Again, not really appropriate for the style. This would do MUCH better as a "Fruit Beer".