Battle Axe IPA
Kelsen Brewing Company

Battle Axe IPABattle Axe IPA
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From:
Kelsen Brewing Company
 
New Hampshire, United States
Style:
American IPA
Ranked #2,278
ABV:
7.2%
Score:
87
Ranked #17,775
Avg:
3.85 | pDev: 12.47%
Reviews:
36
Ratings:
157
Status:
Active
Rated:
Dec 14, 2023
Added:
Mar 02, 2014
Wants:
  6
Gots:
  47
Battle Axe IPA is a unique example of the style, focused on smooth hop flavors and aroma, while avoiding the harsh bitterness found so often in today’s IPAs. Rather than competing for the most bitter beer available, we chose to leverage voluminous late hop additions in the boil to produce a highly drinkable IPA with strong hop flavors, fresh citrus hop aroma and a profound drinkability that makes it a great beer to pair with food.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by woodychandler:
Photo of woodychandler
Reviewed by woodychandler from Pennsylvania

4.13/5  rDev +7.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
I have to admit that I had not heard of either this brewery, or by extension, their beers, but we recently got distribution of their CANs & so I was quick to snap one up for The CANQuest (tm).

From the CAN: "Brewed and Packaged in Londonderry, NH".

I Crack!ed open yet another massive 16-fl. oz. craft CAN & CANmenced a slow, gentle Glug into the awaiting glass. An in-glass swirl raised just over two fingers of dense, foamy, tawny head with great retention that left loads of lacing in its wake. Color was Golden-Amber (SRM = > 5, < 7) with NE-quality clarity, calling forth The Gelt Gang of Midas, Croesus & Mammon for a taste. Nose was at once grapefruit citrusy, slightly piney with a strong smell of dank! Mmm. This is what I expect when I delve into an AIPA, not tropical fruits and/or haze. Mouthfeel was medium-to-full, not quite creamy, but big for this style, more towards a DIPA. The taste had a pleasant citrusy bitterness of grapefruit, lemon and orange along with a light peach, light pine and light dank. Mmm. This is exactly the sort of thing that I have grown to expect in the style & it was nice to find an example in this age of hazebros and tropical fruit AIPAs. Finish was dry, but on the margins of semi-dry. Given the Notes, they really acCANplished what they set out to produce. Nicely done!
May 02, 2018
More User Ratings:
Photo of brewandbbq
Reviewed by brewandbbq from New Hampshire

3.5/5  rDev -9.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
750ml growler.

Pours hazy gold with a half-inch head of white. Minimal retention or lacing. Mildly dank with light grapefruit in the nose. Medium bodied with a slickish mouthfeel. Light malt on the palate with faint hops. Light citrus with a moderate bitterness. Finishes fairly dry with minimal hops.
Dec 14, 2023
Photo of JJKBeerLvr
Reviewed by JJKBeerLvr from Pennsylvania

3.77/5  rDev -2.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Poured from a 16oz can into pint glass in November 2022. There was no canned date on the can. I bought this at the brewery, and drank less than 2 months from purchase.

Appearance: Medium gold color with 2-finger white head. It is hazy, like many NE IPAs. Head is very thick, and it lasts a minute, leaving a small covering. There is a small amount of lacing on the glass.

Smell: Light aroma of malt, citrus, and pine. There is a little hops. The citrus and malt aromas dominates the other aromas.

Taste: Some bitter taste from the hops with a moderate sweetness like citrus. Both the sweetness and bitter edge are balanced and light. Has a nice after-taste that lasts a moderate amount of time. Overall not very strong flavors.

Mouthfeel: Moderate body and alcohol, which matches the 7.2% listed on the can.

This is an interesting IPA. It has a lighter flavors and body than other IPAs.
Nov 27, 2022
 
Rated: 3.75 by LAM01833 from Massachusetts

Jul 31, 2022
 
Rated: 4.21 by ddoyle23 from New Hampshire

Jul 20, 2022
 
Rated: 4 by tonystanhope from Florida

Apr 04, 2022
Photo of Brutaltruth
Reviewed by Brutaltruth from Ohio

4.17/5  rDev +8.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
From the 16 oz can in a snifter via a friend from work who hates IPA's...his loss
on this one, but to each their own----cheers Randy!
This solid new to me brewery brew pours a cloudy orange tinged golden with a
nice head of white foam that settles to a thick ring, thin clumping layer, and sports
some mighty fine lacing. Nose of sweet grapefruit, honey malts, caramel, and a hint
of pine with light sweet breaded malts. Flavors hit it home with light breaded malts,
sweet honey malts, grapefruit, spicy hop notes, and moderate pine hop notes.
Nice mouth feel; medium body, medium light soft carbonation that is lightly
effervescent, and a lightly dry and well balanced hop and malt laced finish.

Overall---an excellent balance of malt and hops. Deserves better ratings!

Cheers
Apr 02, 2022
Photo of GratefulBeerGuy
Reviewed by GratefulBeerGuy from New Hampshire

3.53/5  rDev -8.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
Only a slight bit of haze within the gold. Chunky white foam, lacy and long.

Pineapple and pine tree sap aroma from the hops, soft spice and zesty fruit punch beyond that.

Smooth mouthfeel with maybe a bit of flabby maltiness. Otherwise pretty much right on in the New England style.

Medium complexity and relatively high drinkability. Grocery store grab...soo decent mids.
Feb 06, 2022
 
Rated: 4.12 by Bitburger from Vermont

Jan 07, 2022
 
Rated: 4.12 by hopley from Massachusetts

Sep 05, 2021
 
Rated: 4.14 by lakewy17 from New Hampshire

Jul 07, 2021
 
Rated: 5 by Dalkri from Massachusetts

Mar 23, 2021
Photo of Bear1964
Reviewed by Bear1964 from Nebraska

4.16/5  rDev +8.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Poured from a 16oz. can into a pint glass showed a pale clearish brew with a slight head, reading what the brewers were going for really helped going forward with my review. The aroma was nicely rounded with hops and citrus showing a freshness in nose, the first sip was mild and gave the taste buds and solid citrus hoppy tang without the dank you’d expect...glad I read ahead to see what they were going for. Very drinkable and solid with many food pairing options due to the lack of super pith and hop bomb profiles most IPAs go for.
Jan 18, 2021
 
Rated: 4.06 by Happyyb from New Hampshire

Feb 24, 2020
Photo of Ronl12
Reviewed by Ronl12 from Massachusetts

3.52/5  rDev -8.6%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
16 oz into IPA glass. No date.
Slight hazy light yellow/orange. Smell is apricot and grapefruit. Taste fairly malty light hop top. Feel is medium. Overall not something I look for.
Nov 28, 2019
Photo of sulldaddy
Reviewed by sulldaddy from Connecticut

3.86/5  rDev +0.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
sampling a cellar temp 16 oz can into a pint glass.
The beer pours a fairly clear golden color with minimal bleached white, fizzy head foaming up. These bubbles are gone almost immediately after the pour. Some lazy streams of carbonation rise to the surface.
The aroma is a little bit of biscuity malt and then some pine sap and floral notes of hops. Also a bit of a vegetal note too. Booze is not evident on the nose.
First sip reveals and average body with a smooth texture and fine tingly carbonation.
Flavor is a bit of biscuit malt and a light hit of sweetness. This rolls to all hop with pine sap, floral notes, and a bit of general bitter astringency. This bite lingers after each swallow and dries out my palate.
Booze gives just a little black peppery note but no warming.
A good DIPA, that is more old school west coast style than the current popular hazy IPA trend.
Worth a grab, but doesnt blow me away.
Aug 09, 2019
Photo of Lone_Freighter
Reviewed by Lone_Freighter from Vermont

4.16/5  rDev +8.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Seeing that this is as big as it is, this was poured into a tulip.
The appearance was a deep golden copper color with a small cap of white foamy head softly dissipating to leave some sticky messy lace.
The aroma had some sweet orange pulpy character with some tangerines and pineapple gently balancing. Light dose of grassiness and some citrus rind slide in underneath.
The flavor allowed a gentle balance of orange pulp, tangerine sweetness and some clean biscuity malts. Mild aftertaste of orange sweetness with tangerines and biscuits.
The mouthfeel was about medium bodied with a fair sipping quality about it. Good carbonation and ABV. Mellow finish of orange pulp and citrus rind.
Overall, very nicely done American IPA well worthy of coming back to if I could get it again.
Apr 28, 2019
 
Rated: 4.02 by Mickt465 from New Hampshire

Mar 08, 2019
 
Rated: 3.85 by Bogdawg from Massachusetts

Mar 03, 2019
 
Rated: 4.06 by Pippuri from New Hampshire

Dec 19, 2018
Battle Axe IPA from Kelsen Brewing Company
Beer rating: 87 out of 100 with 157 ratings