Unity IPA
Love City Brewing Company

 

Poured from a 12 oz. can. Has a golden color with a 1/2 inch head. Smell is of citrus, pine. Taste follows the aroma, malts are present. Feels medium bodied in the mouth and overall this is a pretty good beer.

12oz can purchased from the fridge as a single for $2. Hard to read the canned on date; looks like 07/05/22, which would make this almost two months old.

Look: Pours a golden color with light orange tint. Very faint haze. Slightly rocky, fluffy white head that leaves signs of lacing behind.

Smell: I like these aromas - piney up front along with citrusy aromas of grapefruit and orange zest. It smells bright, clean, and bold. Green bell pepper notes on the finish after swirling the glass.

Taste: This is really drinkable. It's very refreshing and very pleasant. Up front, it has snappy carbonation and it really goes down smooth almost like a lager. The finish is crisp, piney, and pithy with a gentle bitterness that lingers long as it is quick to say goodbye and slow to leave. Peppery, spicy notes on the finish also. There is a nice malt backbone with some nice caramel or crystal malts coming through.

Feel: It's on the lighter side of medium bodied. The carbonation is nicely done; anything less would taste flat and more would be too effervescent for an IPA.

Overall: I could see some critics complaining that this beer is a bit watery, but I am happy with the way it is at 5.5% ABV. I will look forward to trying this again, especially when I can find a fresher can. To me, it's like a "little West Coast IPA" because it has these nice piney, citrusy flavors, along with some nice caramel malts, but it's only 5.5% ABV and it's very drinkable. It could probably pass as a Pale Ale in a blind taste test.

From the can:
Unity IPA is an approachable IPA that brings hop lovers together around the citrus flavors of our American hop blend. It is assertive, yet highly drinkable. Low bitterness, and a crisp finish. We could all use a little more Unity.

 

Light citrusy aroma and taste with a smooth mouthfeel. Might be more of a Pale Ale than an IPA but either way an incredible beer!

12 ounce can poured into a 22 ounce Applebees style glass. No canning info, so....

L---Lightly clouded, light gold color. Big, fluffy white head had excellent retention. Beautiful lacing.

S---Hoppy. Floral.

T---Some stone fruit. Floral notes.

F---Medium body with ok carbonation.

O---Another nice one from Love City. I'm liking these guys.

As requested, a clear pint glass is filled from a tap and presented. It's a lightly colored amber, but it's not entirely translucent. A very modest head will eventually lead to a more impressive lacing of the glass. Not close to being pungent, there is still a nice mix of some malt and hops. The taste is probably very close to those original IPAs. Nothing is particularly pronounced, just a nice balance between hops and malt that usually can't be found in another style. This is refreshing and tasteful, but only meets the expected standard for a common IPA. With all of the tweaking going on within this family in general, that is not a bad thing.

Off-white head of moderate density, crests around one finger and stays there nicely, sparse lacing. Filmy golden liquid, good amount of visible bubbles. Crisp nose, salt and pepper, unprocessed grains, quinine, slight white grapefruit pith, modicum of apple, apricot, peach fruit with minimal juiciness, leaves the nostrils feeling a bit scrubbed. Light to medium-bodied, the carbonation does a good job of lifting things up but then what isn’t so feels extra heavy on the palate. Piney with that same minerally, quinine thing. More grainy than herbaceous. Maybe a note of an old dime bag you found in a drawer five years later. Nor registering much citrus, the white orchard pit fruit has more of a center. Clean enough finish, perfunctory. Would put this in the “session IPA” bucket but for me it would have to be super ice cold to put down two or more in a sitting. (No canning date, brewery please provide consumer with valuable information)

 

 

 

 

 

Very balanced. Clean, crisp and refreshing. Nice smell. Looks very good, light haze, fluffy head. Has good head retention. Nice party pleasing IPA. An IPA both beer geeks and casual beer drinkers can enjoy. Like this alot. Session brew for sure.

on draft the brewery

clear, pale golden color, white head. The description on the tap list mentions citrus and fruit forward hops - but to me this smells and tastes for like an older school West Cost style IPA - more piney and earthy than fruity. fairly bitter and drier finish. thinner bodied.

 

How did I come to get this CAN? I was at the Roy Pitz CANnivesary party in PHL not this past Saturday, but Saturday a week prior (Sa, 23 June 2018) & their facility is in extremely close proximity to both the newest Yards & Love City B.C. so we did a walking tour. Imagine my elation, shock & surprise when the owner comes out to greet us & it was none other than Kevin Walter! Kevin was the second brewer at IHLNC, but when he moved on, I lost track. He was gracious enough to gift one of each of his CANned offerings to me for inclusion in The CANQuest (tm) & here we go!

From the CAN: "IPA Beer".

I Crack!ed open the vent & while I debated on an inverted Glug, I went with a slow, gentle one instead. Unbidden, I got two fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, bone-white head with decent retention that left some nice lacing in its wake. Color was a gorgeous Yellow-Gold (SRM = 4 - 5) with NE-quality clarity & despite the lateness of the hour, The Gelt Gang of Croesus, Midas & Mammon showed up for a taste. Nose was interesting in that I was getting an admixture of PNW & Southern Hemisphere hops qualities, both pine and mango, but working well in tandem. Mmm. Mouthfeel was medium-to-full, not quite creamy, but big for an AIPA. The taste was good, initially very cool & minty with a pine flavor, but then the tropical fruit flavors of mango, papaya, guava & passion fruit began to assert themselves, giving it a fruitiness that I did not mind, but it detracted from the initial bitterness. It's on the right track, but I would prefer to see the tropical flavors dialed back even just slightly or the piney hops ramped up. Just a tad. Finish was dry, but I felt like the tropical fruitiness lingered well past the swallow. Not bad, but the recipe needs tweaking, IMHO.