IPA
The Flagship Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

Poured out of a growler dark golden orange in color. Hazy in appearance. Pine, orange and citrus zest. Lots of bitter hop flavor and not much else. Citrus forward. Cracker malt. Dry, bitter finish. Eh.

From a torp
The beer pours a nice white and foamy head that dissipates quickly. The beer itself is a clear and metallic pale gold that looks decent. It isn't anything awe inspiring or overwhelming.

The smell is decent. It has a good light grapefruit with a tiny hint of grassy pine to it. There also happens to be quite a bit of malty sweetness to it.

The taste is pretty much the same but weaker.

The feel is okay. It has a medium body and smooth but not much ccarbonation to it.

Overall, a decent beer. Looking at the reviews, I think that there might be a freshness issue since this was delivered but there was enough of the flavor retained to have a good idea.

 

 

 

 

 

From the bottle, it pours a nice amber with a modest head. Lots and lots of fruity and floral hops in the nose. The mouth gets pine resin and grapefruit flavors. I found that this one has some character that separates it from others of the genre!!

 

 

 

Resinous and a little oily, with plenty of floral and tropical fruit (mainly mango) hop character but no vivid expressive individual recognizable hop flavours; no specific hop is particularly well showcased here, but they all work well enough together and there's enough pale malt sweetness to counter any concomitant hop bitterness.

The result is a drinkable enjoyable brew of limited depth and complexity of flavour that I'll enjoy polishing off a sixer of, but will never see any reason to buy again.

Slightly overcarbonated, with a smooth and wet mouthfeel that isn't unrefreshing. Not watery, gushed, astringent, harsh, or boozy, though its alcohol isn't all that well hidden; I'd guess this was about 7-8% ABV drinking it in a blind tasting.

This is forgettable but pleasant as is. Goes for a noncommittal part classic hop/part new world tropical hop hop profile to its detriment; I'd like to see them stick to C-hops and go more expressive or go balls-to-the-wall new world tropical hop and crank up the bitterness and ABV (I'd favor the former myself). Why pay $11.99 a six pack for this when superior expressions of the IPA style from Sixpoint, Sierra Nevada, Lagunitas, and Bell's are cheaper and more widely available in the same market?

C (2.88) / AVERAGE

***
01.17.17 2nd impression from a bottle from the same sixer:

I get the mango more this time - particularly on the back end. Underscored by pale malt, the mild tropical flavour emerges. I do find a bit of pink grapefruit when I'm after finding it, but it's not the biting assertive grapefruit oft-observed in IPAs. The hop profile is indistinct and lacks the expressiveness of the best examples of the style overall, but the beer is balanced and drinkable.

Mouthfeel is unrefreshing, but smooth and wet. Overcarbonated. Not boozy or hot.

Overall, it's pleasant and drinkable enough, but when compared to the best expressions of the style - even within New York City alone, let alone the best nationwide and global offerings - it's tough to justify a second purchase of. Better priced than many New York City brewery IPAs (though notably, not Sixpoint), Flagship IPA is probably worth trying once when in a pinch, but won't impress the discerning drinker.

C / AVERAGE

Happy to try a brew from Staten Island. My first from Flagship.
It poured a hazy orange amber with visible carbonation. A modest head retains quite well with a sudsy cap and leaves a trail of soapy lace.
Fruity and floral in the nose. I detect apricot and citrus fruit. There is some qualities of sweet grass and fresh cut hay.
Citrusy and sweet in the taste. The orange and grapefruit flavors give it zest, while the caramel malt gives it sweetness. A modest amount of pine resin gives it mild bitterness.
Medium to light in feel. The carbonation is soft to moderate, which gives it a nice gentle prickliness. Very easy to drink.
This is a nice IPA that is more on the juicy side-definitely not a hop bomb- and sessionable. I look forward to trying more from this brewery.