Czech In The Mail IPA
Willimantic Brewing Co.

 

On tap @ Willibrew on 2/18/10. Served in a pint glass.

Pours an unfiltered looking hazy orange copper, with a thinnish covering of bright-white foamy head. This retains with some richness around the edges, leaving some light spotty lacing behind. The aroma is deeply floral, citric, and spicy, with a deep breadiness to it. Those Pils malts are really coming out strong.

Wow, those German malts really impart a rich bready feeling tang to the taste. They are needed however to help balance out the sharpness of the hops, which are full of earthy character, spice, bitter rinds, and some sweeter fruity accents that hang around the edges. The finish is very dry and pithy feeling. The mouthfeel is medium bodied overall, with a nice smooth texture in the mouth despite a relatively sharp feel to the carbonation at times. I'm also getting no alcohol flavor whatsoever here, which only helps add to the great feel.

I liked this. The hops were assertive, but not overly so, and were balanced nicely by that backbone of rich malt activity. A great mouthfeel and drinkibility round this out nicely. Another well done IPA from here.

Czech in the mail is described by Willibrew as brewed with German Pilsner, Vienna, and Munich malts this unfiltered IPA is hopped with Magnum, Saaz, and Lublin. 6.8%abv

I put this as an English IPA due to its exclusively European ingredients. American in spirit and bitterness though.

Purchased in Growler format and poured into a standard pint glass.

Appearance: Poured without much head maybe a fingers width and what was there dissipated quickly into a very thin lacing. This IPA is unfiltered so its dark amber in the middle lightening around the edges, completely opaque.

Aroma: The European hops dominate the aroma with the clean aroma of cooked vegetables, vegetation and a bit of spice. Its a very hoppy aroma, but unlike IPAS with exclusively American ingredients the aroma's don't yield citrus or pine. A great veggie and spciy hopping. There's also a sweet malt which blends with the hops to make a little floral aroma.

Taste & Mouthfeel: Very similar to the aroma. Its very sweet and floral in the malt with a ton of veggie hops. In the aftertaste theres plenty of grainy pils and munich malts. Highly carbonated all though it diddn't last over night in the growler. Also rather bitter and cobinited with the carbonation it finishes really dry.

Drinkability: This a great IPA full of bitterness malt and hops. Its different then a lot of American IPAS you'll try due to the European hops. So anyone who enjoys Pilsners or malty German lagers should find some aspect of this beer enjoyable. A great unfiltered crossover IPA. Another great IPA by Willibrew, just watch out $14 a growler.