Aloft
Moonraker Brewing Co.

 

 

Canned 11/27/18. Fairly old can, but curious to see how it has held up.
L: Great looking WCIPA. Clear amber gold in color. A slow and non-aggressive pour yielded 3 fingers of a bubbly white cap, that settled into a nice frothy 1/4" ring. Tons of residual lacing on the glass, bumping this beer up from a 4.25 to 4.50 for look category.
S: Nice smelling on the nose. Three big players: Citrus, Malts, Pine. The three most prevalent aromas. Mild grassy and earthy hop complexity.
T: Bitter up front, then transcends into a malt-forward sweet aspect. Pine and bitterness on the finish. Malts dominate the flavor profile and citrus and pine are aggressive at the finish. Not a bad tasting beer, just somewhat disproportional for what I am used to. Could be due to age of the beer. For what it's worth, the beer still tastes good.
F: Light in body and weight. Thin feel, refreshing finish. Great feeling brew, smooth sailing.
O: An enjoyable beer. I would be game to try when fresh. I am grateful to have tried. Cheers!

 

Poured from the can, the beer pours a clear dark golden amber color with good head retention and lacing. The nose is exotic, as I pick up some onion, sandalwood and light cinnamon. The flavor profile replicates the nose pretty closely in this moderately sweet ipa. Fortunately, there's enough bitterness on the finish to counter the sweetness pretty well, though this ipa is definitely on the sweet side. Alcohol is actually pretty noticeable in this 7% beer, and drinkability isn't the greatest.

Not sure what to think about this ipa. It's not bad, but the sweetness and noticeable alcohol is a bit off putting. I'm assuming there aren't any freshness problems with this ipa, but it does have some characteristic I typically associate with an ipa that isn't very fresh. The can indicates this beer was canned on 11/27/18.

Canned 11/27/18

Appearance - Pours crystal clear and pure golden in color with a white, finger width head. Good retention, resulting in a thin, consistent layer of suds on the surface. Decent lacing with a few small patches, lines and small spotting.

Smell - Classic Moonraker smell upon first crack; super tropical and citrusy with some stonefruit goodness.

Taste - Follows the nose. Super juicy and fruity with notes of tropical, citrus and stonefruit flavors; peach, grapefruit, mango, passionfruit, tangerine and a touch of dank spice bite. Lightly generic 'bready' malt backbone. Finish is light citrus pith, dank and lesser aforementioned fruitiness.

Mouthfeel - Medium-bodied with tingly carbonation. Slick, easy drinker with a clean, crisp and semi-dry finish.

Overall - Really good Cyro hop IPA. Super fruity and juicy punch upfront makes this a dyno drinker. Doesn't quite have the depth of the world-class offerings, but man what hits the tongue upfront is right up there with the best of them.