Death Putt
Live Oak Brewing Company

tasty and fairly nuanced cold ipa here, nice and low alcohol, bright to drink, crisp like a lager, quite hoppy, could see this working great in the summer heat, but its good enough to be an any context kind of ipa, not enough of these with this much flavor at this lower abv, and i do kind of miss the session style, which is all but dead, good recipe here. golden honey color here, relatively bright, high headed, and clean looking, but not without a bit of malt, this isnt grain neutral as is becoming common in the modern west coast types. the aroma is pleasant but somewhat minimal, tight, with the quickness of the ferment kind of quickening it, tangerine and papaya and a touch of sweetness to me, minerality leaning almost coppery, light bitterness, perhaps some subtle hop spiciness here too, but all comes and goes pretty fast. the flavor is more open, orange for sure, melon rind, and cannabis, but not super intense or dank, almost pale ale in some ways, especially with the bit of maltiness this has, lovely balance against the late bitterness, less metallic than it smells, some resinous freshness, generic citrus, a little green lawn character too, fast lager-like texture but no real yeast flavor or anything, refreshing without being too light, rapid carbonation. this is not the kind of beer i think of with live oak, and it does lack the immaculate refinement and classic nature of their very best beers in my experience, but this should appeal to the full spectrum of hoppy beer drinkers and is a nice compliment to the rest of their lineup. lots of flavor in a low abv pint type beer.

Draft at the brewery
Big creamy thick head with good retention, tons of lacing, mostly clear golden pale color

Nose brings hops, a bit dank and resinous, mixed fruit cereal, a bit of malt base, pine and citrus

Taste starts again with the dank mild resinous hops, pith and citrus, spicy hop notes, good malt base with a touch of sweetness, candies pine and whole hop cone like, med bitterness, semi dry finish getting a touch spicy late

Mouth is med to a bit fuller bod, med to a bit higher carb

Overall a nice ipa with old world meets new world hops

Keeping the Cold IPA spirit alive with a sixer of this!

Pours a light gold, clear and clean. Light hop aroma with more presence on the sip. Moderate bitterness and a drying finish. Summertime drinker.

Enjoyed in a glass at the brewery sitting under a live oak tree.

Very fresh and crisp pale ale, nice amount of hopping, I like this one.

Medium mouthfeel.

 

 

 

On-draught @ the brewery:

Live Oak does these IPLs billed as Cold IPAs to placate the clueless hoi polloi who find themselves at one of the best lager breweries in the country blindly demanding an IPA from the barkeeps, and these oddly hopped experiments are not a bad diversion, but make no mistake - this is the kids menu side dish; the hefeweizen and the European style lagers have always been the main course.

C+ / ABOVE AVERAGE