Grawlix
Foulmouthed Brewing

Lightly spicy, pine, pear, and some vaguely cinnamon-ish notes. Sorta west coast-ish--not some NEIPA fruitjuice crapola--but the bitterness is quite low IMO. Pretty dark looking for what it is. Exactly the sort of thing I hope I'm buying when I buy some random IPA.

 

 

 

Alright, a beer called Grawlix (named after the "$%^#^%@" kind of type that appears in place of actual curse words in comics) by a brewery called Foulmouthed is just... *chef's kiss*, but the art and the fact that this uses all Maine grown hops had me in a hurry to pick it up. I was surprised, however, to see that this is two months old already, which is disappointing. I've never seen it before today, and I think I'd probably notice a beer that looks like this on shelves. Anyway, maybe it will hold up!

The pour is a surprisingly-amber color with a soapy eggshell-white head that leaves behind a lot of sticky lace. Some hop particulate in the body, and it's definitely not a clean beer... unfiltered but with some slight clarity/translucence to it. Decent legs and some alright retention. Ya know, this isn't half-bad looking. I mean, it's like 7-9 SRM darker than most IPAs I have had recently, but what does it matter?

The nose is fruity and slightly grassy with notes of pear, sweet orange peel, orchard fruit, and light spice, with an undercurrent of biscuity malt. Well, this might be a couple months old, but I think the recipe is going for an older-school IPA anyway. Nugget and Cascade hops, so... yup. And that appearance? It all makes sense now. It's weird to think of this as an IPA compared to what we currently think of as style-pieces, but the zestiness and light citrus is still there. I get a decent amount of spice that reminds me of nutmeg, though, as well. I'm led to believe this will be an interesting beer. I enjoy the smell but it's very different than what I expect from an IPA these days. Not a bad thing but certainly notable.

The palate is strikingly bitter and hop-forward with a quickly-terminating wash of citrus oils (grapefruit and orange, mainly) followed by a light hit of pine before biscuity and semi-sweet/caramel malts coat the tongue, bringing forth some toastier overtones. Great feel on this one... I can detect almost none of the alcohol even though it's slightly-warming, and all the elements here are well-balanced. Drinks really well, and each sip is enjoyable. Those pear and orchard fruit notes from the nose carry over well on the tongue, too. It's actually impressive how cohesive this is even with a few months of age on it. Anyway, it's an old-school West Coast IPA (extra pale ale?) with some judicious hopping. What's not to enjoy? Also, again, that can art is just to-die-for. Perfection, even if the beer is just "really good."

 

A- Tallboy into a becher with a copper body and a one finger thick foamy cap. Good head retention and large sheets of thin lacing.

S- Equal parts fruity, piney and citrus hops and cereal, bready malts. Suggestive of a moderate sweetness. Grapefruit, resinous, dry apricot, orange, melon and floral hop notes.

T- Not opposed to malts in IPAs at all but the malts here kind of interfere with those Maine grown hops just a bit too much between the cereal, bready and nutty flavors and the caramelized sweetness. Hops have a citrus character, slight stone fruit, herbal, floral and pine resin notes. Grapefruit, sweet oranges, melon and tangerine come to mind.

MF- Light-medium bodied overall with a very fluffy feel on the tastebuds. A smooth, creamy texture that is definitely chewy and obscenely silky smooth. Ends with an herbal, citrus bitterness.

Amazing mouthfeel but the malts kind of steal the show from the Maine grown hops that I was looking forward to.

 

The first thing I had to consider when trying this is that it isn't a NEIPA nor is it trying to be. I'm so used to bright orange ipas that when I first poured I was a underwhelmed but that said it looked good had a nice bit of clarity wasn't super piney or tropical. It's a nicely balanced take on a classic american ipa. I will definitely visit this again.