Simcoe Studies IPA
Stoup Brewing Brewery & Taproom

 

Poured into a Seattle Beer Week pint glass. Pours a medium golden amber with a fine, two finger white head with great retention and solid lacing. Aroma of lightly caramel malt, citrus and tropical fruit hops, grapefruit, lemon, mixed tropical fruit and light stone fruit. Flavor is lightly caramel pale malt, citrus and fruit hops, orange, lemon, passionfruit and light pine some light stone fruit esters appear in the finish along with pine and nice bitterness. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. In the past, I found that the Stoup fresh hops were among my favorite ones and overall I think the malt base they use for their ipas and pale ales is quite close to my tastes. It has enough malt depth to stand by itself, but also supports the hop flavors quite nicely. Simcoe has many of the West Coast profile flavors that I crave and this one, as promised displays them well, with some clear lemon character at first, but developing orange, grapefruit and finally pine and stone fruit. Nicely done.

This is the 2024 edition and glad to have it back. Lovely aroma of citrus and papaya. Clear bright yellow brew with plenty of foam in the Timmermans goblet. Delicious fruity flavor with a refreshing edge of light acidity. Tangy and clean tasting. The flavors are green melon, lemon peel, pineapple, and a hint of grapefruit in the aftertaste. Distinct bitter aftertaste but welcome after the sweet fruitiness. The Simcoe makes for a very tasty hoppy brew. This should be in the refrigerator when I need something to clean my palate of some tiresome sludge from a lesser brewery. From the 16 oz can purchased at Elizabeth Station. Dated 06/27/24.

Poured from 16oz can into my Bell's tulip. Canned 5/24/22.

Appearance: light golden hue with a dash of haze and a thick finger of frothy eggshell foam atop. Quite pretty!

Smell: the hops have elements of dank, floral, earthy, and citrus; the underlying malt is rather sweet and a bit grainy. Not too bad, but perhaps not my favorite.

Taste: sweet first, followed by an earthy, somewhat dank hop character. A bit like a classic west coast IPA, but too far on the sweet side and too low on the bitter side.

Mouthfeel: medium body with a good level of carbonation and a pretty good creaminess.

Overall: this beer is not bad, but I feel it's not really exceptional either.