To The Max
Phase Three Brewing Company

 

Appearance: Pours a mostly hazy (10% clarity) medium to deep orange color with a massive white head. SRM of 8. (4.00)

Aroma: Strong aromas of orange, grapefruit, pineapple, lemon, and guava zest. (4.25)

Strong flavors of orange, sweet pineapple, melon, green papaya and mango. Sweet, but zesty. (4.00)

Feel: Medium to heavier bodied, strong carbonation. Finish is smooth.(4.00)

Compared to BlackStack Loud Pack 5/25: Pours darker, stronger flavors. More pineapple, white grape, guava, melon. Less orange and floral mango zest. Similar.

Overall: Phase Three To The Max. Big at 10%. I'm not big into imperial IPAs, but didn't read the ABV before I purchased the 4-pack. Promising hop combo and flavors. Fantastic sweet pineapple, honeydew melon. green grape. Sweet, but also zesty. As good as an IPA can be at the ABV. Again, greatness from Phase Three. (Rating: 4.06)

Tasted in a Spiegelau IPA glass from a one pint can on January 31, 2021.

 

Served from the can in a Gale Sayers shaker pint glass.

Fun fact about this glass: It's actually a Miller Lite glass, but I care more about the Gale Sayers artwork by far. I got it whilst on a visit to Lamplighters in Palatine over a decade ago with some old friends from school. Bastards under-poured my Bailey's (so much ice, the swine!) and watered down my friends' drinks and didn't offer much beyond Goose Pale in the way of craft. By way of avenging the money that was spent and not properly remunerated in booze, I nicked the glass. Seemed like justice at the time. A couple years later, I would purchase outright the Walter Payton variant from a pool hall in West Dundee for a fiver. They were cool.

Anyway, the lore out of the way, this stuff pours an opaque sunrise orange topped by a finger of lightly off-white foam. The nose comprises orange peel, ruby red grapefruit rind, light pomelo, a hint of honey-laden biscuit, some sweet flowers, and a touch of wet grass. The taste holds notes of orange juice, powdered sugar (that P3 yeast, boys!), melon, sweetgrass, and some sort of peach-like fruit. The body is a light medium, with a light moderate carbonation and a drying finish. Overall, a tasty TIPA, though I'm not sure the hops are doing enough to balance out with the yeast. Still, I can drink this stuff rather easily and gladly, so I'm off to do just that. Later, taters.

Opaque orange that looks like orange juice in direct light, and like chicken broth under dim light. Initial compact head of foam, that fades to a wispy skim and halo of lace around the edges.

Aromas of cantaloupe, papaya, resiny green botanicals, some sweetness.

Taste is alternately bitter and sweet, papaya, hop resins, candied fruit, intense and maybe a touch too sweet for me. Bitterness starts out strong and gets buried in candy floss. Leafy green hop burps. Medium bodied and creamy though it feels enhanced and sweetened. Overall not bad, but it’s one and done for me.

 

Aroma is fruit/citrus, pungent hops, yeast, malts and a good hint tipa alcohol. The flavor is fruit/citrus, malts/slightly grainy, a hint of honey/syrup and a warming alcoholic/spicy hop finish.