Star Baby IPA
Brenner Brewing Co.

 

 

 

12oz bottle, served in a pint glass. Pours a slightly hazy darker yellow-orange body, one finger white head, short retention time, not much lacing. Smells of grass, a bit of citrus, caramel, touch of toffee, a bit of generic malt sweetness. Flavour is similar in terms of the malt sweetness, touch of caramel, a little bit of citrus, some grassiness and resin. On the bland side, nothing too special. Mouthfeel is medium-lighter bodied, a bit lower carbonation than expected, light bitterness, but overall not a whole lot of depth to it, a bit bland, as befitting a typical Wisconsin-brewed IPA.

I just wanted to start by saying this isn't really an IPA. It's too malt forward in my opinion.

Appearance: Pours a dark amber or brown with a beige head. It fades quickly to a sticky lacing. Crystal clear.

Aroma: Initial aroma of citrus hops. I don't get any of the tropical or fruity aromas from citra hops at all, but more of a cascade/centenial citrus and floral scent. The sweet caramel and maltiness overpowers most of the hops.

Flavor: The flavor is pretty malt forward with some light citrus I wish there was more hops to balance it out. The light citrus quickly gives way to biscuity, light caramel munich malt which eventually fades back to some bitterness. It's very drinkable still.

Mouthfeel: The mouthful is thick. It's not out of style for an IPA, but doesn't really work well here.

Overall: I enjoy it, but not at all what I was expecting. This isn't really an IPA. It seems far too malt forward for that. If they called it an american Altbier, they'd have a winner though.

 

 

Dark for an IPA, but very sessionable. Huge Citra blast in the nose is perfectly balanced with the strong malt backbone. This is an all day IPA not a pallet wrecker.

 

 

 

 

Hard to rate this one as high as I did but I'd like to give some props to a decent beer. Definitely not a drain beer, but... This should not have IPA on the bottle. Looks like a decent tone for a brown ale and the taste and body second this. Bottle states that it is brewed with the citra. Not even the slightest citra hint in this brew. Again I could enjoy this more if I wasn't expecting so much from the description on the bottle. Then again I have been drinking Toppling Goliath IPAs all summer so maybe the bar has been set too high.

 

 

 

This pours a dark amber color with a slight beige head. The aroma is fairly maltly for being an IPA. The taste is fairly good with a toasted malt flavor that finishes with a bitter finish. Not really what you would expect from an IPA but a pretty good tasting beer never the less.