Major Tom
Lamplighter Brewing Company

Poured from a can into a snifter
Appearance – The beer pours a rather hazy and honey orange color with a dense head of white foam that contains big bubbles throughout. The head has a fantastic level of retention, fading slowly over time to leave tons of foamy lace on the sides of the glass.
Smell – The aroma is bready and doughy aroma mixed with lots of fruit smells of tangerine and grapefruit along with a nice papaya and mango. Along with these smells comes notes of pepper and lemongrass along with notes of melon and berries. Rounding it all out is big showing of lemonade, producing a very inviting smell overall.
Taste – The taste begins strong with a doughy and cracker malt flavor mixed with a strong presence of tangerine and grapefruit hop. Along with the grapefruit comes a decent showing of pine and a bit of a floral hop flavor. Other sweet flavors of pineapple and papaya, along with a light guava and pear are there as well. As the taste advances, some lemon and lemongrass join in and with some light notes of white pepper and a touch of must coming on at the very end, one is left with a rather nice, and quite hopped, but balanced taste to linger on the tongue.
Mouthfeel – The body is more on the crisp side, but still has a decent showing of chewiness, with a carbonation level that is average to slightly more peppery. For the style and the tastes, the feel is quite nice matching the flavors and clean hopped tastes rather well.
Overall – A quite well crafted IPA with a good drinkability. Certainly one to try.

 

 

 

 

Looks exceptionally inviting with its hazy, honey amber body topped by a dense white head. Sweet pineapple aromas initially dominate, but give way to more subtle hints of lime. The taste is well balanced between sweet tropical fruit, citrusy hop bitterness and a nice round body. It almost feels like it is bigger than 7.1, but not in a negative way. The hops linger through the finish and throw off a showcase of Galaxy hop flavors. An excellent interpretation of the style from a true NE brewery.

 

Can. Been wanting to try this for a bit. A bit disconcerting that this beer pours nearly clear. I've seen several images of this beer and it's supposed to be a nuke. Super Turbid? Not in my can. Hmmm...someone pulling back on ingredients? Anyway. The aroma is nice but subdued. Definitely digging the hop profile on the taste too. Boy have I forgotten how delicious the Galaxy hop can be. Overall, solid but leaves me wondering what the original recipe tasted like.

 

Pint can - dated 09/19/2020 - purchased locally - poured into an ale tulip at 42°F.

Pours a raw honey golden - only just foggy enough to be opaque, and topped with three fingers of remarkably dense off-white foam with impressive retention, and leaving a perfectly collar of lacing as it deflates. Some micro-sized suspended particulate is visible and suddenly disappears.

Nose: Really simple malt base here. Slightly doughy, slightly bready, slightly toasty, slightly sweet, with just a whisper of honey. The Galaxy hops are in full effect, and lend that super typical overripe stone fruit quality of apricot, peach, nectarine, papaya, with some mango, muskmelon, satsuma, and some grassiness. There's a real leafy, resinous, slightly floral boiled hop element as well, giving it a distinctly non-New England vibe.

Palate: The beer greets the palate malt-first with a real West Coast pale ale delivery. Pale, slightly grainy and raw, and the most balanced level of sweetness imaginable. Next, those Galaxy hops come out, lending papaya, melon, apricot, fresh grass, leafy hop cone, and a hugely herbal spiciness. Galaxy is generally seen dry-hopped/late-hopped, and when utilised this early in the kettle, it lends some pretty atypical flavours. Interestingly enough, the fruitier late-hopped notes appear later, providing some mango, tangerine, and even a bit of pineapple, before the beer takes a resinous turn, revealing some oily, almost pine sap bitterness, more grassiness, some big herbal spicy notes, and that leafy daw hop cone note. A bitter finish dries it all out in a lengthy, but clean fashion.

Mouthfeel/Body: The beer is medium-full in body, possessing this inherently New England creamy softness, yet clearing up halfway, becoming rather crisp and fluid. Essentially no malt stickiness. The hops are oily and resinous, clinging to the palate and lingering, and therefore the finish is dry, drying. Effervescence is perfect - super fine bubbles, and quite lively.

Overall: This is a really enjoyable IPA. They are not striving for cookie cutter hazy IPA, and I respect that so much. The malts used, the hops used, the decision to boil the hell out of them before dry-hopping, to create a bitter, resinous beer... It's all very deliberate, and somewhat against-the-grain for a New England IPA. It also makes this stand out - for the better, in my opinion. This is absolutely one to try, and if you enjoy West Coast IPAs, I think you'll enjoy the homage paid here.

Nice!