Big League IPA
Mill Street Brew Pub

 

 

 

 

 

Pours a clear, deep golden body with an inch of creamy head that slowly dissipates. The aroma calls to mind grapefruit rind, earth, pine, and a certain nectar-like sweetness. The flavour hits home with fresh citrus zest, an earthy bitterness, some vaguely phenolic yeasts, leading into a smooth, clean finish. Very nice IPA. Would absolutely drink again.

 

 

 

Found this to be pretty boozy to the point that it overcomes the hoppiness of the beer, which can be a tough thing to do. Quite sweet as well. Thin bodied. No harmony in this beer for me. It comes across as a bunch of clashing characteristics following one on the other without any proper transition as you drink. I've had high alcohol beers that are smoother and do a far better job of integrating that into their overall character. In the end just too harsh and clumsy to really enjoy.

 

 

 

355ml bottle, part of Mill Street's current Spring mixed pack, and an ode to the recent kickoff of MLB 2016.

This beer pours a clear, bright medium copper amber colour, with a teeming tower of puffy, loosely foamy, and bubbly off-white head, which leaves some mirror world continental lace around the glass as it very slowly abates.

It smells of rather sugary caramel malt, a twinge of biscuity toffee, orange marmalade, a gentle earthy stoniness, and relatively minor league leafy, floral, and piney green hop bitters. The taste is bready and doughy caramel/toffee malt, concentrated and pulpy orange juice, a subtle mint-like spiciness, and more bush-league earthy, leafy, and pine resin hoppiness.

The carbonation is obviously quite robust in its swirling and ambitious frothiness, the body a decent middleweight, and sort of smooth, those Cascade hops dialing back their bittering regime enough to be workable here. It finishes off-dry, the base caramel malt holding its ground over home plate, while a limping citrus and piney acerbity rounds third.

Overall, a fairly simple and easy-going hopped-up IPA, the bitterness delivered more in the flavour, than in the mouth-puckering way, if that makes any sense. Anyways, well-made and enjoyable as an accompaniment to our warmer weather, and I suppose, watching overpaid grown men run around in circles.

355 mL bottle from the LCBO; one of three seasonals included in their latest mixed pack. Dated Jan 21 2016 and served at cellar temperature.

Pours a sparkling clear orange-amber colour, with two fingers of puffy, foamy white froth seated atop. Retention is fairly good, and plenty of sticky lace is generated as the head slowly seeps away over the next five-plus minutes. A messy cap and generous collar remain in place afterwards. On the nose I am getting some biscuity malts and caramel, alongside muted notes of orange pith, grapefruit and pine resin. Nothing too interesting.

Taste follows the nose; a prominent malt backbone starts the profile off with flavours of bready biscuit and caramelized sugar sweetness. The Cascade hops take over as expected during the latter half of the sip, supplying a resiny, slightly floral bitterness along with disappointingly weak suggestions of citrus pith. The hop flavours linger briefly into a bittersweet aftertaste that quickly dissipates. Medium in body, with low-ish carbonation levels that gently agitate the tongue. Feels smooth and fairly soft on the palate, with a bit of a persistent, oily slickness to it. Quite easy to gulp for 7%.

Final Grade: 3.72, a respectable B grade. Mill Street's Big League IPA is the sort of beer that probably would have been very popular in Ontario if it had come out ten (or even five) years ago. This brewery is not known for its IPAs, or for assertively-hopped beers in general - and while this one is at least a decent example of the style, it doesn't do anything that hasn't already been done by dozens of other brewers in this province. At least they had the courtesy not to skimp out on the malt bill, which helps make up somewhat for the dull contributions of the Cascade hops. About as safe and boring as hoppy beer gets - fine for a tipple or two, but not something to go out of your way for.