Make IPA Piney Again
Lupulin Brewing

From a 16oz can canned on 08/09/24

Well, this is unexpected: this is a murky and hazy dark golden pouring beer. I was expecting a clear pouring beer to be honest. It looks good. There's a nice thick 2 1/2 finger slightly off white head. There's good head retention, and some damn nice lacing on the glass.
The aroma is well, a nice piney aroma. So nice and strong. Slight hint of dankness to this beer. I am just digging the aroma.
Taste - There's a slight citrus and melon hit up front. The citrus is mellow and fades right away. This is replaced with a mellow hit of pine. The pine isn't nearly as strong as the aroma let on. The finish is just a beautiful full on hit f bitterness that just builds and lingers in my throat.
The body is decent and full. Very nice feeling from the bitterness that builds and lingers.
Well, I was hoping for a pine bomb, sadly, it isn't. I love the bitterness, but the pine is totally lacking.

Appearance: Pours a slightly hazy (~40% opaque), light and bright orange color. A strong white head. SRM of 7. (4.25)

Aroma: Moderate aromas of orange, dank grapefruit, tropical melon. Light berry. Resinous and somewhat dank. (3.75)

Flavor: The flavor follows with more resinous orange, tropical melon, berry. Some dank pine underneath the big resinous orange flavor. Finishes heavy. (3.50)

Feel: Medium to heavy bodied. Moderate carbonation. Leans heavy and sweet. Leaves a resinous orange feel on the palate. (3.50)

Compared to Surly's Todd the Axe Man 5/29/21: Pours a slightly lighter color. Milder aromas and simpler flavors. More resinous orange and berry. Less airy pine, but more resinous and bitter.

Overall: So now that I'm drinking this beer well into the Biden Administration, needless to say I'm drinking this one a few months past its prime. Canned on 9/2020, so that would put this one 8 months old. Probably why it drank kind of simple and resinous. Didn't get a whole lot of pine here either. Other reviewers noted that this one had a piney but also hazy notes, that it was a mix between the two. I get mostly resinous orange. Either it was always an AIPA, or it was a dry-hopped NEIPA that has aged a few too many months. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and assume the latter. Not a terrible IPA, but like The Orange Man, I think it was past it's prime, and not really sure what it was trying to achieve: hazy or piney? (Final Rating: 3.66)

 

 

 

16oz can. Stamped on can bottom is canning date of '09/22/20'.
Hazy, cloudy body, with the color of straw. Big two finger white frothy head, which leaves behind extensive coverage of lacing.
Aroma is pine and resin.
Taste is woody resin and pine. From middle to end is bitter. Kind of dry.
A little more than medium mouth feel. Excellent carbonation.
Somewhat of a joke beer, based on the can description, but any confusion would be cleared up if the beer itself was clear, not hazy. Has a decent bite.

So, I like the name of this beer, and the idea behind it. And I don't know if liking a joke like this puts them, or me, on the side of the MAGAs, or against. Can't say for sure, let's just leave it as good joke and hope the beer is as good.

Oh, but it's hazy. Got to be hazy. (Does it?), with a bright golden hue, and a thin ivory head.

In the nose: bursting with citrus and pine. Pow! Pow! Grapefruit, orange, and forest floor. Nice.

In the mouth: Mmm. big and juicy. Intense hop flavors. Dripping with bitter delights. Not a trace of the tropical notes that are all the rage these days, hardly a touch of sweetness. Good old bitter hop attack, plenty of citrus and pine. Medium bodied, long, fruity/hoppy finish. Juiciness continues.

If you look at their description below, it's odd that they seem to be rejecting "hazy, juicy" IPAs by making this "piney" IPA, but nothing of the sort has happened. Tropical hops have been swapped out for piney ones, but it's still hazy and juicy. Nothing's really changed, here. Make IPA clear again! Make IPA bitter again! Make IPA dry again!

I like it, though. It's a good IPA, and you can drink it. It's just not as good as it could be. Not piney enough, come on, you can do it. Go all the way. Do it! For real.

 

 

16oz can. Poured out a clear, golden orange color with a small, off-white head of foam. It smelled of pine, citrus and toasted caramel. Sweet caramel taste with a sharp piney bitterness.

 

Poured from a pint can into a nonic glass.

Pours a hazy and nearly cloudy orange/amber with a nearly bone-white two-fingered foamy head that retains well and gives way to nice lacing.

The aromas are not as "classic" or "piney" as expected given the bold statements on the label. The aromas are initially more "juicy" like the brews that the label denigrates, with grapefruit and orange flesh, peel, and yes, juice. The pine and dank notes are sidenotes.

The brew tastes fine, but doesn't live up to its self-proclaimed hype. It straddles the line between classic IPA and NEIPA, with juicy citrus notes threatening to overwhelm most other flavors. Malt forward, and grainy in mid-stream, the promised pine and resin take a backseat.

The brew is nicely balanced, with medium body and a clean finish.

If I was rating to the label and the name, this would be rated even lower. However, I'm rating strictly to style. It's a decent line-straddler that ends up being more of an NEIPA, but it may be the most disappointing brew I've had from Lupulin.

 

 

 

 

Pine? I’ve almost forgotten the pleasure of rubbing my tongue against an evergreen. 16 oz. single picked up because, well, I have enough IPAs.

The pour is disappointingly murky; the name implied, nay, stated in glowing implication that this was old school, but it looks like a freshly scrubbed kindergartner; as OJ as OJ can be. About a full minute of sniffing finally nets a bit of pine. Woohoo.

If Make IPA Piney Again were one of my daughters, they’d be in hot water for stretching the truth. Sure, there’s pine, but there’s a lot more sweet bread dough, way too much caramel malt. The bitterness is where this is at, making up for the lack of fir: hard, harsh, bracing. Lush, thick. One & done. Wishing I’d split this with my wife.

Looking for a throwback, I found a beer with severely confused identity & enough malt to be housed on the stout shelf. Not even average, now or in 2010.

 

Less marketing, more pine

Thos beer pours a hazy orange with a solid head. The is floral upfront, with a touch of resinous pine, and some grapefruit peel. The flavor is rich upfront, with definite pine, cedar, resin, cannabis, and caramel, with a medium bitter finish and grapefruit pith and pine. The mouthfeel is quite full with lush carbonation. Overall this is a fantastic beer - full flavored and full bodied, it is utterly satisfying.