Key Lime Pie IPA
Mill Street Brew Pub

 

Hands down the worst beer I’ve ever tasted. I think the good folks at Mill Street brewed a batch of bad IPA and needed to unload it. It tastes nothing like key lime pie. It has a sour taste initially, but that quickly turns into a combination of trout, feet and lilac.

The other week, my girlfriend pulled one of these out from the cooler and it immediately caught my eye. Wow, "Key Lime Pie". In the form of a drinkable alcoholic beverage. I like Key Lime Pie. In fact, I LOVE Key Lime Pie. So the newly found excitement I had to try this beer went through the roof!

We proceeded to carefully pour two glasses with the perfect amount of head. I took a whiff of a pleasant citrusy aroma. Hmmmmmm. We raised our glasses, said "Cheers!" and took a sip......

I was confused. This was not what I was expecting. A tangy, rotten, stale taste ran through my taste buds. What? I was expecting a pleasant, bitter, sour taste. One that you would expect from a Key Lime Pie IPA. But this was not that. This couldn't be the taste of beer. What was wrong? I immediately thought of ways I could have been mistaken. Was the beer stale? Can beer even stale? Was there left over soap in our glass dishes? Did a nearby bathroom have an odor conflict with my taste bud's?

I looked over to my girlfriend to see her reaction. She had the same nose wrinkled cringe look on her face. The face you would give when walking through your local compost dump.

We both took one more sip as to not be mistaken. We UNANIMOUSLY agreed. This was the worst beer we have ever had.

Don't try unless you like the taste of compost.

Pours an off-putting brown colour, but on the other hand the nitro charged head on top is beautiful. The smell is completely key lime pie. No beer just pie. The taste is the same, Graham crackers at the beginning, tart lime in the middle (lots) and sweetness on the finish. A dessert beer if I’ve ever had one. At no time do I taste the advertised IPA portion of this beer. Mouthfeel is thick and creamy, thanks to the nitro. Even though the taste is good, my overall rating is low because this does not taste like beer, it tastes like pie.
Aug 9 2020

440 mL nitro can from the LCBO; coded May 22 2020 and served barely chilled.

Pours turbid but translucent, with an amber brown-coloured body that is initially crowned with nearly two fingers of silky smooth, creamy white head. It remains in place for the better part of ten minutes, gradually reduced to a more manageable half-inch cap. Nitro beers are attractive more often than not, and this one's no exception - but on the flip side of that coin, their aromas are frequently underwhelming. Here, I'm getting graham crackers, vanilla and hints of key lime, as well as a touch of creamy sweetness - certainly not bad, and it does give off a key lime pie vibe... just a tad too muted IMO.

It's unique, I suppose - tart lime zest and pastry crust start things off as advertised, with notes of sugar and vanilla coming through shortly thereafter. The IPA side of the equation is satisfied with flavours of tropical fruit and grapefruit bitterness, which can be discerned closer to the tail end of the sip; it finishes with more lime and pastry crust, with the citrus and sugar lingering briefly into the aftertaste, alongside a twinge of cinnamon. Light in body; feels a bit flat, but it does have a soft, pillowy sort of mouthfeel that feels pleasing on the tongue. Very drinkable, chuggable even - college kids could use this for beer pong, if/when society ever goes back to the old normal.

Final Grade: 3.66, a B grade. Mill Street's Key Lime Pie IPA is a decent brew that is worth trying mostly for its novelty factor... but it's not something I really feel the need to seek out again, or emphatically recommend. It delivers on its promise of providing a nitro-charged beer that tastes more or less like key lime pie - the IPA side, I'm not so sold on, as the additives almost totally overpower the contributions of the hop bill. I might return in the future, but frankly I wouldn't bet on it.

440 ml can served cold into a pint glass. LCBO purchase for around $3.95 CDN. Listed at 5.4% ABV.

Appearance - Appears as a hazy turbid bronzey brown color with nearly two fingers of frothy and dense long lasting head thanks to the nitro pour.

Smell - Interesting. Pastry, cream, lime aromatics. It does in fact smell like key lime pie. There is also a hoppy citrus component that focuses on lime with some other citrus aromas like lemon in there, but predominantly lime.

Taste - Again key lime pie with plenty of lime a rich pastry crust, plenty of lime and just enough bitterness and tartness to make the lime stand out. Patsry crust fades after a couple of sips. Might be meringue in the flavor too although maybe just the texture.

Mouthfeel - Rich and creamy, full bodied and dense and filling.

Overall - Okay, it's not a traditional IPA any any sense of the style, but does have lime featured quite prominently, which is sufficiently bitter to make up for it. The texture is quite rich and dense as expected from a nitro brew, but accompanies the flavors and smells quite well. A gimmick beer for sure, but quite well executed if Key lime pie is your thing (and I am a big fan). so while I'd have trouble downing more than one in a session, it is quite good for that one beer. Worth a shot and one of the better gimmicky beers out there. This brew makes me wonder how a nitro lactose IPA would go - it truly would be like a fruit milkshake in texture.