Eclipze
Lost Craft

 

 

 

 

473 ml can from LCBO. Cost was about $3.75 CDN. Initially did this review about a month ago, and then computer ate my words.

Appearance - A hazy, rich golden golden colored beer with a mammoth three finger white head. Great staying power, lacing, everything. One of the most attractive beers I've had in quite a while.

Smell - Tropical citrus aromas dominate, but Eclipze is heavy on orange and graepfruit. Pineapple thrown in for good measure.

Taste - Medium citrus with orange pith, juicy orange slices and some earthiness as well. Hints of mango and there's a slight rich creaminess (likely from wheat) that kind of makes me think of a New England Milkshake IPA.

Mouthfeel - Very creamy and frothy, in a sense like a milkshake IPA. Has some juiciness as well.

Overall - Very respectable showing for a juicy and creamy IPA. Good balance of flavors and just enough bitterness to keep this BA happy.

 

Hazy pale apricot with a head that settle to a persistent splotchy cap. Not bad lace either. Kind of a weak nose., some grapefruit hops. Smooth, full mouth feel. Soft with a bit of a bite on the finish. Hoppy grapefruit pith to taste. Drinkable, but ordinary.

473 mL can from the LCBO; dated Apr 9 2019 and served slightly chilled. An unflavoured milkshake IPA, huh? I guess it's technically hop-flavoured, which is fine by me.

Pours a turbid, cloudy golden-apricot colour, generating nearly two fingers of soapy, foamy white head that largely seeps away within the five minute mark. A spotty coat of lacing has been deposited in its wake, with a thin collar of froth lasting on; looks good to me. On the nose, I'm getting citrusy hop notes of orange and grapefruit, in addition to minor hints of stone fruit, wheaty malt sweetness and earthy pine resin.

Tasty but unspectacular - the lactose sugar does provide a nice, mellow background sweetness to the flavour profile, but other than that it's pretty straightforward. Grainy wheat underlies notes of juicy orange, grapefruit, and maybe a hint of apricot, with resiny, vaguely floral hop bitterness limply asserting itself towards the back end; this is before being overtaken by citrus pith and milk sugar sweetness in time for the near-similar aftertaste. Slightly more bitter than this style trends, but nothing a hophead can't handle. Medium-full in body, with moderately assertive carbonation that prickles the palate firmly - yet the overall mouthfeel is still quite smooth, luxurious and satisfying. Highly drinkable, and in fact, that might be one of its strongest traits, because I could easily have several of these in a row.

Final Grade: 3.92, a B+. Lost Craft's Eclipze is more than good enough to be worth picking up again - in fact, this is my third can since mid-April - but this beer just seems to be missing something that might bump it up to the next level. In line with that sort of thinking, I suspect that fruit-flavoured variations upon this beer aren't too far off in the future.