Collective Project: IPA No. 21
Collective Arts Brewing

 

 

Got this from the LCBO

From a 473ml can into a pint glass
Hops: Azacca, el Dorado + Elevanot cryo hops

APPEARANCE: Pours out like juice. Makes a two finger, very loose and bubbly looking light orange head with lousy retention. Head quickly bubbles down and looks flat rather quickly. Opaque orange in color, juice-like, with no carbonation evident.

SMELL: Definite guava and mango on the nose. Tropical fruit juice, more-or-less.

TASTE: Tropical fruit juice beer. Guava, mango, pineapple and passion fruit up front and into the swallow. Same array of tropical fruits at the swallow as well. This is pure fruit juice with a bit of beer added for shits and giggles.

PALATE: Medium body and medium carbonation. Bubbly and a bit airy on the palate, goes down fine and finishes a touch dry on the palate.

OVERALL: This is like fruit juice beer. Definitely milkshake IPA for sure. It’s not very beer-like, and certainly won’t be for everyone, but it’s delicious and I really enjoyed it. Highly recommended if you like your milkshake IPAs as basically fruit juice masquerading as beer. Cheers!

 

 

Collective Arts Brewing "IPA No. 21"
16 fl. oz. can coded "APR/18/2022 17:30 121" and sampled on JUL/20/2022
$4.29 @ Total Wine & More, Cherry Hill, NJ

Notes via stream of consciousness: This is an odd looking bird. It's quite cloudy and very orange in color. It looks like a glass of orange juice but it's darker, and it has an orange head of foam on top - or it did until just now as it quickly dropped away! I've never seen an orange head on a beer before! There must be something in this beer. Ahh, yes, it's tight there on the label "ALE BREWED WITH GUAVA, MANGO, VANILLA & LACTOSE". The hops used are Azacca, El Dorado, and Ekuanot Cryo. It smells like sweet fruit pulp, and the guava's definitely there but I'm not so sure about the mango. It's not a super bright aroma though so keep that in mind. On to the taste... it tastes like carbonated fruit juice & pulp with some hops added. I'm getting a note of pine that stands out but all of the other tropical hop notes just blend in. I'm not finding any alcohol at just 5.9% nor did I expect to. It's not that sweet but I think that's because a lot of the sugars have fermented out. I get a little bit of the vanilla but not much. There's some acidity to it, some bitterness, and a little bit of spiciness that combine to help it finish fairly dry. The mouthfeel is like juice with a fine-bubbled carbonation. If you've ever had orange juice that started fermenting you'll know what it's like. So, end of the road here... how to sum up?... It's really more like carbonated fruit juice with alcohol added than beer with fruit added. It's not bad but it's certainly not what I think of when I think of beer, nor is it close to what I think of as an IPA. That's OK though, it's good to push the boundaries and this is a perfectly pleasant and well-balanced fruit beer. The head retention is a negative but everything else is pretty good if you just roll with it; every beer has its time and place.
Review #8,169

Pours a bright and thick orange juice golden colour with floating particulate and a short lived bubbly head - swear it looks like a glass of orange juice.
Aroma is fantastically fruity - mango, citrus, vanilla note - a tropical fruit salad.
Tastes of sweet ripe mango, orange and grapefruit, and a good kick of vanilla - lactose sweetness is there but there is also a floral and citrus hop expression and a decent amount of bitterness backing up the sweet.
Thick full juicy mouthfeel - prickly carbonation and a nice bittersweet tropical citrus finish.
I really liked this - though less a beer and more boozy juice.

 

473 mL can from the LCBO; dated Mar 25 2022 and served slightly chilled.

Pours a cloudy goldenrod hue, its body containing a generous amount of clumpy sediment; it's topped with an inch of soapy, big-bubbled, sparkling white head that melts away within three minutes or so, sparsely speckling some delicate lace about as it recedes. I'm getting mango and vanilla milkshake on the nose, with lesser notes of wheaty malt, guava, pink grapefruit, and maybe a hint of floral hops - quite nice, and delivers as advertised.

It's interesting - fruit forward for sure, but there is a recognizably good IPA under there that creeps through once in a while. Mango, vanilla, lactose sweetness and grapefruit at the forefront, backed by grainy, wheaty pale malts. The guava comes through in force on the back end, lending a tropical juiciness that hits in the midst of a floral, citrusy, moderately bitter finish; guava and grapefruit linger into the aftertaste, along with a touch of vanilla. Medium-full in body, with moderate carbonation that lends some bite to this brew's otherwise soft, smooth, pillowy mouthfeel. Drinkable enough, but not a beer I'd want to have one after another.

Final Grade: 3.95, a B+. IPA No. 21 is a solid fruited IPA, but as a milkshake IPA I'm not so sure - the one-two-three punch of mango, guava and hop bitterness relegates the 'milkshake' part of the equation to near irrelevance. As someone with little interest in milkshake IPAs, that's not a major problem for me, but it might be for other BAs who were hoping for something a little creamier and/or sweeter. Worth experiencing at least once, and I'll likely pick up another few cans while it's still around.

[Updated Sept 3 2022]

Had another can of this, and I swear the head was yellow-orange. My guess? Last time, the can had been sitting still for days, so most of the fruit pulp scuzz was settled on the bottom. This serving was rolled around recently, putting most of that scuzz into suspension. I'm not changing the grade or anything, I just thought this was odd enough to be worth mentioning.

Has an appearance and consistency of mango purée, with sediment floating around. Nice head though. Mango on the nose. I get nothing but mango and guava on the taste. I don’t detect any hops, or lactose. Just a 5.9% glass of juice for me
July 7 2022

 

Appearance - Pours a hazy peach with four fingers of frothy white head that quickly dissipates.

Smell - citrus, earthy, floral, and weedy hops, guava, pineapple, mango, citrus, papaya, bready malts, and earthy yeast.

Taste - citrus, earthy, floral, and weedy hops upfront. The guava, pineapple, mango, citrus, and papaya follow suit but isn't as potent as it tastes like a juice and falls flat. The bready malts and earthy yeast round out the brew.

Mouthfeel - Meidum bodied with moderate carbonation. Finishes sticky with the hops, guava, and mango lingering.

Overall - An average IPA that loses its identity in the taste. I just wish there was more "IPA" elements in this one. If this were a blonde ale with guava and mango then this would be a winner but alas.

 

 

473 ml can served cold into a tulip. LCBO purchase for $4.75 CDN. Canned March 25, 2022.

Appearance - Super hazy, milk orangey gold colored brew that almost appears juice-like. A large three fingers off white head is poured and fizzles away to just about nothing in mere seconds.

Smell - Loads of guava and a nice backing of mango. Exactly as advertised and has a fairly natural smelling way (as opposed to added to with adjuncts). The vest part of the brew.

Taste - Lots of guava, some mango, plenty of bitterness. Executes one dimension very nicely but there's not much after that. Middling bitterness in the aftertaste.

Mouthfeel - Fairly full and creamy, medium carbonation and semi-juicy finish.

Overall - A brew that delivers upon expectations, tastes pretty good, has loads of guava and mango flavor. With that being said, I don't see it nearly as repeatable as many of the other IPA series, unless you absolutely love mango and guava. With that said it's pretty decently lower middle among the IPA series and needs to apologize to noone.

Haven't had too many of this series lately, as it seems to have lost its luster lately.
Let's see how this curiosity turned out.
Pours more normal than I thought it would....and the nose is really nice. The taste is as advertised - guava. mango - though a bit tart for my palate. Still, very summery, just in time. I am sure it will be popular, as it's also not very strong (the weakest beer I had in years). So the taste is okay, though it feels very acidic and quite highly carbonated.
I probably won't have another one, but am glad that I have tried it.