Lady Friend IPA
Elora Brewing Co.

 

Underrated

My can stated 6% ABV, not 6.5%.

At my lady Pamela's house; canned and chilled, from the University Ave. West LCBO in nearby downtown Windsor. My first beer from the Elora, ON brewery.

 

Waterloo 2019. On tap at Famoso's. Hazy pale gold with a long- lasting head. Standard fresh citrus nose. Medium body with balanced malt and floral citrus hops. Substantial feel made for a pleasant brew.

 

 

Everyone needs a friend.
Poured into tulip with orange caramel golden with excellent collar and fine evervesence. A fine nose here of grapefruit straw and grasses. Taste is simlar of fruity goodness here with subtle aftertaste. A good find here by a brewer also new to me. I appreciated the “packed on” scale on the label to indicate when it was bottled (checked off by hand) - nice touch

For this one at the LCBO

From a 500ml bottle into a pint glass
Bottled 18 May 2018

APPEARANCE: Pours a 3+ finger, medium looking, frothy, creamy white head with excellent retention. Cloudy burnt orange, opaque, with no carbonation evident. Head slowly fades to a foamy cap and clings to the glass. Island of foam remains until the end leaving lots of lacing on the glass as it

SMELL: Grapefruit, honeydew melon, lemon and some piney aromas on the nose. Bold stuff.

TASTE: Melon notes with touches of caramel up front. A little milder than hoped. Some honeydew at the swallow, then a milder yet lingering finish of grapefruit bitterness, some pine and light floral flavors. Less pronounced than expected.

PALATE: Medium body and medium levels of carbonation. A little foamy on the palate, goes down fine and finishes a bit dry. Some bitterness lingers.

OVERALL: This is alright. The look is pretty solid and the aroma is nice, but the flavor is a little less impressive than I’d hoped. Worth checking out if you’re a fan of the style but it does leave a something to be desired.

 

500 mL bottle from the LCBO; packaged May 2018 and served at cellar temperature.

Pours a cloudy golden-orange colour, with just over an inch of puffy white head rising forth from the surface. It disappears at a steady pace over the next five minutes or so; several messy bands of sticky lace have been left behind, in addition to a modest-sized collar of froth. Smells spicy, herbal and a tad resiny, with citrusy hints of grapefruit and orange coming through alongside hints of cantaloupe, in addition to fairly prominent caramelized malt notes.

The flavours are along the same lines as the nose, with bready malts and light caramel sweetness serving as a backdrop for the mandatory hop surge that follows. Lots of grapefruit and orange, with hints of mango and cantaloupe; the taste becomes increasingly pithy, spicy and herbal on the back end, with resiny bitterness that lingers on into the aftertaste. Medium in body, with light carbonation that limply prickles the palate, resulting in a smooth, slick, mostly soft texture that goes down the hatch like a champ. A good little IPA, properly brewed, with the spicy character helping to (slightly) distinguish it from the horde of other IPAs to pick from in this market.

Final Grade: 3.82, a B+. Elora's Lady Friend IPA ain't too shabby - the hops were more than enough to satiate my Humulus lupulus fix, with a lingering, resiny bitterness that was right on the mark for my tastes. That being said, the price point is too much of a deterrent for this to become a staple... but it's still a worthy hopped ale that I'll return to on occasion, and wouldn't hesitate to suggest to others looking for something of that ilk.

 

Pours a clear dark gold with an enormous three finger head. Retention is quite good and lacing is abundant.

Smell is hops led with citrus pith and some grapefruit. I find there is also a piney touch. But the malts are there to say hello too. Nice caramel hops come in.

Taste is much like the nose. Bitter pithy and piney hops are out front, then some caramel and perhaps biscuit malts come in too. Hops stick around for the finish.

Medium body with about the same in the way of Carbonation. The finish is dry and bitter.

This is a decent IPA that needs some refinement. The bittering hops overpower the rest of the aspects. I think with a touch of work this could be a good go to beer.

500 ml bottle poured fairly cool into a pint glass. LCBO purchase for around $5 CDN. Bottling date looks like February 27, 2018. Listed at 6.0% ABV.

Appearance - Slightly hazy deep bronze beer with an impressive three fingers of lively white head. Great staying power and lots of visible carbonation. Lots of lacing too. Close to a finger of head stays for at least half of the beer. Great looking beer.

Smell - Lots of grapefruit, plenty of melon and ripe mango too. Very tropical, but leaning towards the fleshier citrus fruits as opposed to the pithy orange and grapefruit combo.

Taste - Lots of citrus up front, more grapefruit than is present on the nose. Earthy and dry tasting with lemon and orange there too, but primarily grapefruit. A subtle melon sweetness is present initially but fades for the waves of bitterness that overtake the beer. Some white pepper in there too and kind of a oniony hop taste at the end.

Mouthfeel - Very dry, well carbonated, soft texture and medium body. Some astringency tickles the tongue in a non-delicate manner.

Overall - A pretty good IPA, that could use just a little refinement and a slightly more delicate balance to make this really easy to drink and enjoy. Pretty solid IPA.

 

 

Grapefruit pithy hop bomb. Looks good, slightly hazy pinkish orange. Moderate head to a substantial film, lots of lace. Holly nose, big dose of grapefruit hops to taste, but not overwhelming. Sweet malt up front immediately giuves way to bitter hops that linger. Decent enough, but in a lot of ways just another of the same thing.