Pipsqueak
Bearded Iris Brewing

4.04/5  rDev +2.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

For those times when papa bear's beer is way too much and even mama bear's beer is more than is preferred, there's this- it's basically baby bear's type of IPA.

Pipsqueak comes with a bright and tangy herbal and fruity array. Stone fruit, wine and faint grassiness swirl with a spicy hop balance. Pale gold and familiarly hazy, the New England fog has certainly rolled over the session IPA landscape. Frothy and creamy, the sweetness graces the tongue with light caramel, honey and the softness of angel food cake.

Then comes a quick flow of hop flavor since the light sweetness dissolves rapidly on the tongue. Sharp white grapefruit pang away at the middle palate while white wine, green berry and honeydew bring a succulent but drying juiciness to balance the citrus. Trending grassy with an herbal lemongrass bite, a neon green character enlivens the senses with a piquant vegetal bite to close the taste.

Medium light and finishing decidedly dry, the beer's scant remnants from malt leave the hops to contend for themselves, sharing the radiant potpourri, spice and bitter green taste that extends in a medium long aftertaste with a particular tannic spice for added balance and abrasion.

 1,196 characters

3.64/5  rDev -7.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5

Looks quite a bit like a NEIPA. Pretty much indistinguishable from their Homestyle, it's hazy and opaque, and looks like an overcast sunset when poured. Main difference is, at 4.5%, it's extremely sessionable. Easy to pound three pints of this in a sitting and feel decent.

However, it's very bitter. I like it fine because I like my hops, but it's not quite as well-balanced as Bearded Iris's other pale offerings, which are pretty consistently great. Given the price point (you're looking at around $15 for all of this brewery's four packs), I expected better.

If you're looking for something sessionable, go for something that will give you some citrus to counteract the bitterness, probably for six bucks less and eight ounces more. If you're looking for Bearded Iris, spring for Homestyle, Attention Please, Bottle Rocket, or Scatterbrain--which are all masterful pale entries to this brewery's catalog.

 911 characters