West Coast Style Single IPA
Frost Beer Works

 

Large foamy head, close to half the pint glass, close to bleached white, nice even surface. Nose more grainy than biscuit, keen penetrating sensations, peppery with lighter white citrus, dry mango, apricot, melon fruit scents, nothing opulent, grassy but not funky. Medium to full-bodied, very dry through the mouth entry. Carbonation brings more tension to the mouth feel, prickly. Peppery with sufficient maltiness to take the edge off. The white grapefruit, tangerine citrus plays a thoughtful supporting role. Grains unto pretzel notes. Tarry and grassy. Here too the fruit sort of an afterthought. By no means absent, just one voice in a chorus. Finish is adequate, dryness helps reset the palate. Personally I'd like a little more fruit but would take this over the super-juicy IPAs out there masquerading as beer. (Canned 2/27/24)

Gold color and crystal clear. Thick head that lingers and leaves some chunky streaks on the glass.

Mildly fruity but with a nice bouquet of hop cones. A bit like juicy fruit gum.

The beer starts like the smell but dries out quickly. There’s a strong bitter finish, more than most west coast IPAs. It leaves a long aftertaste. The body is normal as is the carbonation level.

 

 

 

 

 

This was poured into a becher pint glass. The appearance was a golden amber color with a fair transparency about it. Half finger white foamy head that sustains for a little bit and then dissipates nice and even. The aroma starts off with a sweet papaya, pineapple and mango. Bittersweet pine develops as it warms and plays with a crisp sweet underlying malt. The flavor starts with that tropical juicy sweetness and rolls right on into the pine which is fairly bitter with a crisp bitter piney aftertaste and finish. On the palate, this one sat about a light to medium on the body with a fair sessionability about it. Good carbonation and quite low, subtle soft feel still, with a sly bitter harsh bite. Overall, nicely done west coast styled AIPA by Frost. The malt level is lower than a lot of other west coast IPA’s but I liked this one mainly for me.

Pours a hazy, deep orange color with 2 fingers of fluffy off-white head. The head is gone in a hurry, leaving some cobweb lacing as it dissipates.

The aroma is...odd, for an American IPA. There's a lot of bread and grassy notes up front, Very yeasty, with a touch of citrus on the back end.

The flavor is just...I don't know what the hell is going on here. Bread and caramel malts, with a strong metallic taste in the middle. The finish is subtly citrusy with the absolute foggiest hint of pine.

The feel is medium bodied with an extraordinary amount of carbonation. Way too much for the style. There's even some slight alcohol warmth despite this being a 6.0 ABV beer.

Overall, a pretty damn terrible excuse for an IPA. There's nothing "West Coast" about it, from the opaque appearance, to the sugary sweet, yet metallic flavor. I'm not sure if this is a bad batch, a bad bottle, or what, but I'm not impressed. Frost Beer Works is a very good brewery, and they know how to brew an IPA with the best of them. But this is a big swing and a miss for me.

 

This beer poured a slightly hazy gold with a fluffy two finger head, which broke leaving some lovely lacing behind. The smell was piney with some citrus and mango elements. The taste followed the nose, but I found the flavors became muddled as the beer warmed. Feel was nice, medium body and fairly high carbonation.

Okay, I read the other reviews and I have to ask if I had the same beer? Judging this as what it is labeled, a West Coast IPA, it does not hit all the marks. As a general IPA it does more so. Not one of the better efforts from Frost IMHO.

 

 

 

From a 22oz bottle, dated 02/17/17. Served in a nonic.

Pours a glowing gold with a two-plus finger head of lush, cream-colored head. Amazing clarity for something brewed in Vermont, probably nine-point-something on a scale of ten. Retention is excellent, settling back to a dense whipped cream cap. OK, it sure looks like a west coast IPA...

(Edited to add: the second glass i.e., the bottom of the bottle, poured full-on hazy).

The smell is less convincing. Yes, there is pine, but there is also peach and mango. And caramel and fresh white bread. The nose isn't as hefty as I might like but, what there is of it, is appealing.

Taste is in line with the nose - a toasty sweet caramel and white bread body awash in a laid-back sprucey bitterness. This is sort of backwards of a typical NEIPA where I'll often have the tropical fruits up front and taste a little pine on the finish - here, the pine comes first and it ends with a palate-full of soft fruitiness, peach, pineapple, orange, lemon and mango.

Feel is smooth and mouth-coating, just better than medium-bodied, very well carbonated with a little boozy warmth in the gullet.

Overall, maybe I missed the point in thinking that 'west coast' was going to be about the hop profile when it was really all about the malt body which is much more representative of a west coast-style IPA. The hops themselves, the blend of bitter and aromatic, is a happy hybrid of the two. Regardless, it's an excellent beer and I hope to meet up with it again.

 

 

Sampling at the brewery.
Pours a somewhat clear orange with a good head.
Some taste of pine resin.
Pretty good mouth feel.
Some taste of pine, some trace of malt.