Letters From Aston IPA
2SP Brewing Company

 

2SP Brewing Co. "Letters From Aston IPA"
16 fl. oz. can coded "12/03/2024 02:21:10 2501-02". Sampled on 5 February 2025
$4.99 @ Total Wine & More, Claymont, DE

Notes via stream of consciousness: It's poured a cloudy golden-orange body beneath a thumb's width of rocky, slightly off-white foam. In the nose I'm finding tropical fruits including mango, pineapple, papaya, orange, and a touch of lemon. On to the taste... wow, it's rich and bright, and super fruity. The malt is basic but you do get some oats which is nice. I'm getting some additional berry, apricot, peach, grapefruit, and resins as well as a bit of spiciness. The bitterness is restrained but present, and it finishes dry with fruit and resins fading. In the mouth it's medium bodied, gently crisp, and then smooth due to all of the extra proteins.The head held up well and I have solid walls of lace made up of rings where each sip was taken - very nice appearance. There's nothing on the label about it but this is a New England style IPA done in the "juicy" style. Excellent!
Review #9,179

A lover of traditional IPAs may not try this, should the label first been read. However, the entire contents of a pint can were emptied into a clear glass liter mug for a trial. The brew is dark apricot-amber, with a golden hue. Despite the wheat in the wort, the head was a reasonable size, just-off-white in color. Whatever the taste outcome, this is not blessed with much aroma. Wheat and oat based brews rarely are. But, it tastes OK. There's a nice light citrus bite to the hops, but don't expect all the nuances promised by the brewer's description. There's no taste transitions and there's no remarkable mouthfeel that one may expect from a beer with oats in the mix. There's little glass lacing. This has a pleasant, if undistinguished taste, without any enjoyable IPA transitions from malty to hoppy. There's no depth to anything here for the tongue. To continue the argument and adding to the point, it's not a true IPA unless there's some evidence of barley in the mix. Here's one more of too many examples.