Blueberry Milkshake IPA
Outcast Brewing

 

 

1L howler from the good ol' Sherbrooke Likka Sto. An interesting take on the whole turbid NE IPA craze, I gotta say.

This beer pours a hazy, medium copper amber colour, with three fingers of puffy, rather loosely foamy, and bubbly off-white head, which leaves some random sudsy island chain lace around the glass as it lazily recedes.

It smells of indistinct berry-forward ice cream, bready and doughy caramel malt, subtle domestic citrus zest, and perhaps a sense of muddled green hop bitterness. The taste is gritty and grainy pale malt, a lessened caramel/toffee sweetness, still hard to differentiate dark berry fruity notes, a faint lactose astringency, and more plain-Jane leafy, citrusy, and piney typical West Coast zingy hoppiness.

The carbonation is definitely adequate in its servile frothiness, the body a decent middleweight, and generally smooth, with a nice airy creaminess seeping in once we get past the initial pleasantries. It finishes off-dry, the mixed malty and understated berry fruitiness holding hands on the way out of town.

Overall, this is an agreeable enough IPA, though one duly tempered by the lactose side of the equation - it's like you had a fruity milkshake, and tossed a few big 'C' hops in there just for shits and giggles. Not a bad thing, per se, but still kind of unexpected, and not yet part of my surprisingly puerile palate.

Snagged a growler of this one for the end of Canada day weekend. Guy at my local store seemed pretty stoked that he had managed get a couple of the few kegs of it Outcast put out, one was already gone over the long weekend. Personally I am happy about the hype surrounding this style. Pours a hazy reddish copper colour with half a cm of head and fine lacing. Lots of sweetness on the nose, fruity ice cream, berries, citrus, candy, and vanilla. Taste has more malt presence, sugar complimentary to the aroma hops with only slight initial bitterness but a definite IPA aftertaste. Mouthfeel is creamy and smooth without being overly carbonated. Overall I'm glad to have tried this stuff, Milkshake IPAs are always interesting, and this one was among the best I've tried so far, also extra points for being the first one I've tried that was brewed right here in AB.