Not Looking For A New England IPA
The Dandy Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

Appearance - Pours a light copper with two fingers of foamy off-white head.

Smell - Citrus hops, mango, papaya, hint of grapefruit, bready malts, and a caramel sweetness.

Taste - Moderately bitter citrus hops along with bready malts and some nice caramel sweetness to support it. The citrus and tropical fruits are mild in the flavour.

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Finishes with a little stickiness alongside lingering bitterness.

Overall - One of the better brews I've sampled from Dandy to date. The hop presence is spot on with excellent support from the malts. Looking forward to what they do next.

650ml bomber poured into tulip 8/4/16

A hazy dark amber when held to the light gets darker towards the center with lots of tiny slow bubbles all over the place, two fingers of tan foam has great retention slowly falling to an island leaving partial rings deep down the glass

S orange creamsicle and marmalade, bread dough, lots of spicy herbal hops, soft caramel comes out strong, faint spruce, wet tea bag, smells like the style should

T somehow there's even more herbal hops and tea bag then the nose, hard to place citrus, still lots of caramel and bready notes, again it hits the style

M medium bodied but the bubbles cream it up, a nice bitter snap, a little gritty, sticky on the lips, herbal hops linger

O solid start to finish, nothing really to complain about and for those that like IPA's from across the pond this ones for you

Not my favorite IPA style but I have to admit my tiny local nailed it fairly well. If your expecting a big American hop bomb this isn't it, it is however hopped right up for an EIPA, easily recommended

 

 

 

400ml glass at Craft Beer Market in Edmonton. The name of this offering portends something different, I suspect.

This beer appears a hazy, medium golden apricot colour, with two chubby fingers of puffy, creamy, and melted marshmallow-esque bone-white head, which leaves some eroded limestone wall lace around the glass as it slowly bleeds off.

It smells of bready and doughy pale and caramel malt, muddled orchard citrus fruit, a certain tongue in cheek chalkiness, and subtle leafy, weedy, and floral hop bitters. The taste is very citrusy up front (orange, lemon, and fresh red grapefruit), with some plain grainy and crackery pale malt, a more laid-back hard water flintiness, and some steady earthy, leafy, and floral noble hoppiness.

The carbonation is fairly understated in its low-key frothiness, the body a solid middleweight, and kind of pithy and chewy in its attempt at smoothness. It finishes well off-dry, mostly from the lingering citrus juiciness.

Overall, a veritable combination of an Atlantic Northeast and English IPA - big cloudy citrus and wet chalk, with a more reserved East Kent Golding bitterness instead of the expected pine tea sidekick. An interesting venture from this Anglo-leaning Cowtown brewery - and a bit cheeky at that. Worth checking out for IPA fans of any stripe.