IPA
Black Kettle Brewing Company

 

 

 

Got direct from the source, tap to a growler and drunk the same day. Aromatic beer and the smell of burning pines is true to the PNW area. Taste is more astringent and chalky, starting out dry and finishing drier. Piney hops are there, but not supported by much malty bones. It's a thin beer, not much to it in terms of flavor or texture. What's up with Vancouver beers and their lack of body? L:3 S:4 T: 3 F:2.75 O: 3

Update: I also bought a bomber and am having it now. It is more disappointing than what I had on tap, and I'm updating my review to reflect this. Overcarbonated and tastes like it's almost gone bad, was too exposed to light sitting there behind the brewery bar for who knows how long (no bottling date), or has some other kinds of diacetyl issues.

650ml bottle, another newish BC brewing concern trying their luck in the wilds of Alberta's bottleshop scene.

This beer pours a slightly hazy, medium copper amber colour, with an aggressively teeming tower of puffy, finely foamy, and somewhat creamy off-white head, which leaves a rather solid band of swollen thunderstorm cloud lace around the glass as it lazily recedes.

It smells of semi-sweet caramel malt, a hint of biscuity toffee, muddled citrus and pome fruit esters, some mildly spicy yeast, and further leafy, weedy, and grassy green hop bitters. The taste is gritty and grainy caramel malt, still hard to differentiate citrus rind astringencies, some green apple fruitiness, a still hovering yeasty note (big surprise), and more testy leafy, floral, and herbal hoppiness.

The carbonation is actually kind of ridiculous in its overwrought and time-consuming frothiness (spoon alert!), the body a so-so middleweight (too many swirling bubbles to really make a proper assertion), and smooth in a force it down yer throat kind of way. It finishes trending dry, the malt going all crackery, and the hops coalescing into a wanly bittering singularity.

Overall, I find some some truth in others' opinions that this is not really an IPA - first off, it seems like this was bottle-conditioned, given the silly amount of persistent carbonation, which is just plain annoying. Beyond that, the hops are mostly understated, resulting in a more English IPA experience, if that. Yeah, there's a few snags to be addressed here, before I'll ever reach for this again, when either recommending or desiring a real Yankee-style IPA.

 

 

 

 

Sorta had to buy a case of bombers for political reasons. This needs to be relabeled as an ESB, because that's what it is. Decent ESB, but she ain't a proper IPA. End review.

MUCH better than their pale ale! A great hop flavour and aroma profile that is very well-balanced by a good malt backbone, which adds a light roast character to the beer.

Black Kettle Brewing 'IPA' @ 6.4% , served from a 650 ml bottle purchased for $5.70
A-pour is gold from the bottle to a clear amber in the glass with a medium size off-white head leaving a streaky lace along the pint
S-pine & some faint citrus
T-smooth , crisp & clean , sweet swallow with a dry bitter finish
MF-ok/lots of carbonation , feels full bodied
Ov-surprisingly good beer & IPA
prost LamperLand

Just enough hop to compliment the bold malty flavour

 

An ok IPA way to Malty for me and missing the hop bite. Good try but not close to Fat Tug at all.

 

 

Super solid IPA that brings the malt complexity and enough hops to satisfy. Not on a Fat Tug level but worth getting a growler full at the brewery. Darker in colour than most this has a complexity in the malt base that kept wanting more. Love to see a DIPA of this