Single Speed IPL
Moat Mountain Smoke House & Brewing Co.

16 oz. Can

Well carbonated golden color, high rising white cap. Dissipation is very slow.

A sweet, fruity hop aroma mixes with the mild caramel and buttery lager malt. A classic lager nose with some pretty serious fruity hops.

A very bold hop flavor, bitter pine, major citrus and sweet fruit really pops. The lager yeast and classic lager malty flavor is much bolder than most of the other IPL's I've had. A very big lager taste seems to be in excellent balance with the very complex hops. The hops are also very leafy, earthy and boldly bitter.

The mouthfeel is very crisp, lively, earthy and dry in the finish. Very fresh, healthy feel.

A very bold IPL, high quality the whole way.

A- Tallboy pours with a clear deep orange, pale amber body into my chalice. Atop the brew a one finger white cap forms with a very thick creamy texture. Fair head retention and lacing sticks with thin but plentiful drizzled webs.

S- Both hops and malts are fairly represented with the former winning out by a comfortable margin. The hops bring on classic citrus tones with hints of stone fruit, floral, pine and herbal cones. Malts add hints of caramel, nuts and bread.

T- I was sort of expecting the balance to shift from the aroma to a maltier feeling but the hops hold their own despite more toasty and caramelized sugar flavors coming out. The key is the sweetness being almost missing as the brew strays towards the dry side. Pine and citrus hops in the forefront with floral, herbal, grassy, earthy and a touch of stone fruit notes beyond that.

MF- Light-medium bodied overall thickness with a relatively high carbonation bringing on a certain crispness to it all. With that comes a fizzy yet frothy texture and a finish of moderate resinous bitterness.

IPL is still secondary to the monster cousin style but I am glad many brewers are introducing a wealth of different examples. This one is solid and on the more balanced side with toasty bready malts supporting piney citrus hops. It doesn't need to be a hop bomb but a slight taming of the grains could go a long way here.

 

 

 

Has this one out of the famous Moat Mountain "everyone loves" big cans....superb visual; pure golden color, great head retention. Smell was dull and no hop aromatics at all. Fairly thin beer but outstanding drink ability for a nice summer night. Crisp, clean...a bit like a Pilsner with a higher hopping. Will not win any gold medals but I will be on the outlook for this one throughout NH.

 

 

Can from the Lazy Dog
Brilliantly clear golden color with a bubbly off white head that persists. Sweet bready malt with bits of caramel on the nose. Light earthy grassy hops. Flavor is quite sweet with bready light caramel or toffee with a bitter butterscotch finish. India pale what? This is not a very clean lager nor are there a lot of hops here. Fail

Poured on draft at the Union Diner in Laconia NH. Pours a straw yellow with a one inch white head that leaves behind some lace.

Smell pine, lemon grass, earthy hops, and some grapefruit.

Taste follows, more powerful than the nose nice pine, biscuit upfront with a shot of lemon and grapefruit in the slightly dry finish.

Mouthfeel is a little thin as I expect from the style, nice amount of life, maybe a little dry, and excellent drinkability.

Overall this very nice, would love it on a hot summer night.

 

 

 

Maybe a little unfair given the comparisons but this fell quite short of my other experiences with India Pale Lagers, namely from Jack's Abby and Founders Dissenter. A nice drinkable beer, but I did not get much lager quality out of this. If i was told this was an off flavor IPA I'd believe it.