Skull Bucket
Steel Bender Brewyard

On Tap at Santa Fe Bite . Pours a hazed golden color with good lacing. Smell is fruity , with citrus ,and lemon bread . Taste has citrus and a lemon/lime spritz ,bready malts . Mouth feel is sweet hoppy fruity ,slight touch of bitterness=ess , very tasty

 

“Bold with hints of Orange Pine” is not the best grammatical sentence on the side of the can but it does sum up this brew pretty well. The flavor also has lemon zest, grapefruit, biscuit, toasted grains, light peppery spices, some bready sweetness, fresh cut grass and yeast or dry hay. It’s quite bitter and hides the ABV. A nice middle of the road IPA.

 

 

 

Lovely golden color. Malt up front followed by a strong pine, orange, pepper finish. Very pleasant and clean. Not as bitter as some IPAs, which is fine by me. 7% alcohol which I think is on the high end before going to double IPA.

 

Clear and dark golden hued body; nice carbonation; head is one-finger thick, dense and creamy; broken rings of lacing inside the glass. Extremely faint smell; wet grass with a bit of caramel and citrus. Malt-forward flavor initially, then bringing some decent hop bitterness out on the back-end; light caramel; a bit spicy and peppery. Medium body; crisp and prickly on the tongue; dry overall.

For a two-week old packaging (09/03/19 09:41 on the bottom of the can), there sure is a lack of smell to this beer. Otherwise, it isn't bad, but truly lacks definition and character. The can (and the brewery's web site description) also mention things like 'marmalade', 'orange', 'pine' and 'juicy'. One would be hard pressed to find those things in the beer. The one other can description ('toasted') does come through in the flavor. The beer certainly is drinkable, but the traditionally heavy-hitting IPA combination of smell and taste are rather subdued with this beer.

 

 

 

12oz can poured into a Duvel tulip. No discernable date anywhere. Beware that can has a laminated paper label on top of the can so it can make it harder for you to judge temperature by feel... don't overchill!

Appearance - Gold-amber slightly hazy body with a fairly small dull-white head. Low retention. Weak lacing with low-moderate stick. One of the weakest heads I've ever seen on an IPA. 2

Smell - Musky wet grass with some high floral notes behind it. 3.75

Taste - Grass. Grass. Grass. And flowers. But a bit thin in the finish. Almost a decent session IPA. 3.75

Mouthfeel - A bit on the watery side. Astringent though. 3

Overall - The label says marmalade toasted orange pine juicy. Whatever that means. I think the grassy characters I noted may have actually been that harsh citrus rind. It works though. It's strong up front, a little thin in the back. Good for sessions maybe. Not impressive by any means though. 3.75

Poured from a can into a pint glass. Beer is a clear copper with a thin head. Note is bitter orange and fir. Taste is nice malt up front that quickly gives way to a dry, pleasantly bitter finish with lots of orange rind, fir, and pine. It's a complex hop profile, but not at all muddled or incoherent. Mouthfeel is very good. It's crisp and drinkable. Overall, an excellent IPA. Not quite an elite IPA, but very close. I'd buy this again, and would love to try it on tap.

The Skull Bucket IPA is fantastic! It has the perfect amount of hops that give it its amazing flavor! Well done!