Brotherton IPA
Brotherton Brewing Company

 

Look: It pours yellow-orange with a white head. It has very good head retention.

Smell: It has a strong resinous and vegetable aroma with some grass. There are some tropical notes. There are light apricot notes in the background.

Taste: There are some dank, resinous flavor with some grass and light tropical fruits. There is a sweetness to it. There are very light citrus elements in the background.

Feel: It's mildly bitter with a bitter finish with a bit of sweetness in the finish. It has a medium body.

Overall, the vegetable flavors with grass throughs the flavor off a bit. The tropical notes are pleasant.

 

 

 

 

The first hit is good. There's a nice hoppy aroma to be had at the crack of the pint can. But then, it goes downhill. The pour to empty the pint can into a clear glass Imperial pint mug becomes difficult, because of a starchy white head,. It's much larger than it should be and it recedes unevenly, unattractively and without much lacing in the glass. That's somewhat redeemed by the beer's color, a nice cloudy copper-amber. The smell says good hoppiness, the look says too much wheat, or some other additive, to an IPA, that just doesn't belong there. The smell has enough hoppiness so that some faults may possibly be overlooked, but that prospect isn't prominent. Reading the label, it's admitted that there is lactose in the mix. To a purist, nothing can ruin an IPA like lactose, save an overdose of wheat in the wort. That admission helps explain things. Still, the aroma is good, with a somewhat muted hop profile. The taste is OK, but the hop bite is certainly curtailed by the lactose. The attempt to add body and depth to an IPA by adding lactose is only mildly successful. In fairness, this drinks much better than the typical milkshake beer and it isn't bad at all, thanks to the modest inclusion of lactose. The finish is somewhat hoppy and devoid of the stickiness of most lactose ales. Maybe one of the better attempts to include lactose in an IPA, in fact good enough to invite your own opinion.

 

 

Pint sized can in a nonic pint glass. 32 days since canning.

Translucent golden colored liquid with a thin white cap and lots of small bubble carbonation. Fat ring lacing.

Dank, earthy, light tropical and citrus, toasted pine.

Dry biscuits, orange and pineapple, herbal tea.

There’s an orange juice quality to its feel, but not a juice juggernaut. Mild hop presence that quickly gives way to a malt finish. No ipa zip.

More juice than ipa for my taste.

This was the first beer from Brotherton that I've reviewed on here, as I found it at Joe Canal's in Parsippany a few weeks back. Glad to see another brewery here in Jersey sold in these parts as this was a nice, accessible IPA that didn't have any rough edges or strong aspects to it.

The pour to this was decent as it had a golden appearance that wasn't clear nor cloudy, with a bit of fine, darker sediment floating near the bottom of the liquid. Not a lot of head topped this off as the lacing left behind was soapy, spotty, and sparse. A good amount of mild citrus fruit, lychee, pine, and tropical floral notes were in the mild nose as the taste followed suit. Hints of tobacco and dry-hopped Citra rounded out this beer's flavor as this wasn't intensely juicy and intense as it's description led me to believe. Some crystalline Malt seemed to be what gave this beer it's body as the dankness came through in the aftertaste, albeit in a moderate way.

A good amount of fine carbonation kept this light as the aftertaste was moderately slick and somewhat resinous. There wasn't a lot of booze in this as it was one of the more subdued IPA's that I've had from this neck of the woods. Canned on 12/27 of last year with "IT'S PRETTY AWESOME!" written underneath it, this was a good example of what a basic IPA should be even though it didn't measure up to hazier takes from these parts or the resinous versions from the other side of the country. For someone new to IPA's, this would be a good beer to start off with!

Look: Pours a hazy orange with a half inch of white, frothy head.

Smell: oranges, citrus, pineapple, floral

Taste: definitely a citrusy taste to it - I’m getting orange or tangerine, a bit of pineapple, maybe even a hint of banana

Feel: Hops are pretty mild to me here, and this one feels a bit creamier than an IPA should be. That’s not a deterrent though, still a smooth and easy drink

Overall: Really solid offering here, and is definitely unique from a lot of other IPAs out there. Would recommend.

 

 

Had on tap at the Firkin Tavern and it poured hazy gold color with a 1-2 finger thick off white head that faded slowly and left good rings of lacing. It smelt more like tropical fruit than citrus hops, bursting with an array of fruity notes. I wouldn't say the nose was balanced, but the grapefruit, pineapple and orange notes were really nice to inhale. Had a Firestone Walker Luponic Distortion: Revolution No. 013 right before this pint and the Brotherton had the better nose, but the FW was better balanced. The taste was like the nose and full of tropical fruit and citrus hops. I'm glad I took the waiters recommendation as this was a nice new local IPA while I was down in the middle of NJ. Good stuff, definitely worth a try.