Cactus Grapefruit IPA
4 Mile Brewing Co.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poured from a 650ml bottle into my IPA glass. 6% ABV, 70 IBU
A: Pours a hazy amber with almost no head and no lacing.
S: Has a caramel candy nose with a hint of pine.
T: Some citrus and caramel slight hint of hops but a good bitter finish.
F: Medium carbonation a slight over malt.
O: An ok IPA the grapefruit is sort of there that ok for me the hops give a good bitter hit maybe switch up the hops for a better citrus profile.

 

650ml bomber poured into tulip 23/9/16

a hazy pale copper with some sediment throughout, its a little flat with just a couple very slow bubbles feed a thin film that's gone in a flash leaving some polka dots

S candied grapefruit, tangerine, gummy bears, soft caramel, a hint of spruce

T lots of citrus peel, more soft caramel, even more peel, pine comes out a little, not bad but missing a little something

M medium bodied, not flat but could use some more bubbles, mild bitter bite, some fine grit with citrus rind lingering strong

O one of those beers where you don't really know where the hops end and the citrus additions begin, its decent but could be a fair bit better

I'm guessing this bottles faded a little? some numbers hand written on the bottom of the bottle, 9180? 0816? 08/6? not really sure but I'd be surprised if this was bottles last month

4 Mile Brewpub 'Cactus Grapefruit IPA' @ 6.0% , served on *cask at HOPoxia'16 & a 650 ml bottle purchased for $6.75
A-pour is gold from the cask/bottle to a clear gold in the glass with a medium size off-white head leaving a large spotty lace along the pint
S-melon , mostly citrus
T-clean & bitter tasting IPA , so much grapefruit
MF-ok carbonation , feels like bodied
Ov- local grapefruit IPA summer tour 2016 , check
prost LampertLand

 

Appearance: Poured in to a Spiegelau IPA Glass. Mostly-clear burnt orange-amber, white and fluffy head of medium and large bubbles and pretty good retention and light lace.

Aromatics: First scents are punchy like a spring bouquet of flowers spritzed with ample grapefruit zest. Sweet and zesty citrus’s, hints of fresh pine, there is nice and subtle transition to sweeter aromas of he caramel malt and maybe a touch of fresh bread dough.

Taste: Amazing - like biting into a ripe yellow grapefruit peel and all. The aromas almost give away the full flavour. Finally an IPA whose scents are extremely well matched to it’s flavour. The hops are tart rather than bitter and it cascades the palate rather than assaulting it. The tart and bitter are quickly whisked away by a semi-sweet citrus and mellow malts keeping that strong earthy flavour common to IPAs at bay, which makes me look forward to that next sip.

Feel: Light end of a middleweight body, crisp, and zesty with light carbonation remaining. Nice and smooth and borders on creamy. The finish is clean with an aftertaste that mildly present, is so full of grapefruit that you don’t mind the slight linger. I think for its smell and taste a little more carbonation would have given this an excellent feel.

Overall: A super IPA. I’m in agreement with biboergosum - if you like fresh grapefruit this is for you. Great scent and mouthfeel, excellent on its own on those hot summer days, I definitely will chill my next one to as cold as I can get it.

Pairing: As I mentioned pair this with hot sun and relaxation. If you want to go with a food - 4 Mile suggests grilled squid and garlic or take-out fish and chips. My pairing suggestion would be a garlic filled Caesar salad topped with Cajun sautéed shrimp. or going with the fish and chips theme I’d say grilled salmon with plenty of pepper and lemon, and greek style lemon baby potatoes foil grilled on the bbq.

 

 

 

Appearance - Pours a deep amber with two fingers of foamy off-white head.

Smell - Grapefruit along with peel, bready malts, zesty citrus aromas, citrus and tropical hops.

Taste - Bitterness of grapefruit, followed by the bready malts and citrus. The hops are far more mild than I anticipated.

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Finishes dry with lingering pungent grapefruit.

Overall - An IPA that certainly delivers on the grapefruit, however I feel it loses those crucial hop elements of an American IPA. I wish those hops had more presence. Otherwise, spot on.

650ml bottle - 'Goose the Pamplemousse' - me likey! Is there such a thing as a 'cactus grapefruit', or is there some unspecified actual cactus in this?

This beer pours a clear, medium orange-brick amber colour, with three fingers of puffy, loosely foamy, and certainly bubbly ecru head, which leaves some wafting campfire smoke lace around the glass as it slowly sinks away.

It smells of pungent grapefruit rind, a bit of fleshy grapefruit and orange juice, grainy pale and caramel malt, and a hint of floral, leafy, and piney green hop bitters. The taste is bitter white grapefruit (the whole damned thing), kind of biscuity caramel malt, maybe a touch of chalkiness, and more tame earthy, leafy, and floral hoppiness.

The carbonation is fairly light on its mostly frothy feet, the body a decent middleweight, and generally smooth, with a small airy creaminess arising as things warm up a tad. It finishes off-dry, the underlying malt doing well to maintain this one's street cred in the face of a still robust and lingering grapefruit pith bitterness.

Overall, it comes down to this - if you like fresh grapefruit, and you're not an IPA purist, then you're probably going to like this. Easy to drink, nice and crisp, and yeah, quite refreshing on a hot summer day. I was going to make a comparison to all those radlers out there right now, but with 6 (undetectable) points of the wowee sauce, Cactus Grapefruit IPA doesn't have time for that.