Eagle IPA
Eagle Brewery

 

 

At my lady Pamela's house; canned and chilled, 500mL in a pint glass. From my favourite LCBO at Tecumseh Mall in nearby Windsor. My first beer from the Bedford, England brewery...

Pours a 1 finger of foam. Nice copper color. Malt with some caramel aromas.
The taste is good. This beer has been sitting in the can for a long time and still tastes great. Malt and caramel tastes with some hops. This Eagle IPA is not juicy like these New England or West Coast IPA's you see all around.

This beer is easy to drink and is more mild and less bitter than I was expecting. I really do recommend this one.

Make in England and bought from LCBO in Barrie Ontario.

Pours a dark amber with a two finger off-white head. On the nose, a note of caramel malt, some indistinct fruit, and a hint of earthy hops, all quite gentle, if not muted. The flavour starts off with that caramel malt, a bit of black bread, some earthy hops, and then a long but gentle English floral hop finish. It goes down smooth enough, no complaints there. Overall it's a decent English ale, gentler than even most traditional English IPAs,perhaps lacking some depth of flavour, but quite drinkable and decent nonetheless.

 

Poured a 500ml can into a pint glass. A one finger bubbly off white head on a very dark amber, almost brown. The head soon diminished to a thin layer. lots of fine lacing.
Grain in the nose. Some hop.
Lots of hop flavour but relatively low bitterness. Mild hop finish.
Medium body and carbonation.
A very interesting IPA overall.

 

Appearance:

The can is a bright red with an interesting wireframe-esque logo and fairly straightforward branding, which I don’t mind at all: simple can be appealing, especially as I get older and appreciate minimalism more and more. It pours with a good head – in fact I was unable to fit it all on my glass thanks to the amount of foam that gathered – though it dissipated fairly quickly. The colour is very interesting as well. If I had been handed this glass and asked to guess the style, I would’ve guessed Amber or Red as it’s color is far darker and redder then I’d expect from even a double IPA. It’s definitely in the deep amber or amber brown area of the colour spectrum. That’s intriguing and, as a fan or Ambers, Reds and Browns, earns it an extra point or so from me.

Unfortunately it does then immediately lose them for having little carbonation visible. Perhaps my glass is cleaner than normal and there’s nothing for bubbles to form around. It does seem odd it had such a foamy head to begin with but little to show in the way of bubbles. Perhaps it was the pour and that’s why the head disappeared so quickly, though I have been pouring beer for a long time now and consider my technique to be very consistent.

Smell:

Toasted barley and hops right off the bat, with a faint hint of honey in the background. It basically smells like fresh, warm bread covered in honey butter like you might get at a decent steak house before your meal. At least that’s the memories I’m getting from it. Not a strong smell though, it’s all a little subdued.

Taste:

Compared to most English IPAs I’ve had it’s fairly hoppy, though it pales compared to some of the microbrews I’ve had over the past year. I’d guess it’s probably around 55-60 IBU, give or take. The hops really comes through at the start before giving way to a more grassy taste by the aftertaste. There are notes of caramel and honey hiding in there, though faintly and a non-specific fruit character to its sweetness. It feels like a nice balance. I tend to like that piney bitterness you get in an American IPA, so the English IPAs do tend to feel a bit underwhelming to me, but for it’s category it’s a very nice example.

Feel:

The head implied strong carbonation, though the amount of bubbles in the body implied little. On the tongue though, there’s a nice tingle implying its probably a touch above average. It’s got a smooth, crisp feeling and the dry bitterness in the aftertaste gives a very refreshing feeling. Nicely rounded with no unpleasantness anywhere.

Overall:

Above average. It’s easy drinking and crisp, and the dryness compliments the rest of the ale nicely. I take some points off for being a little weaker and a little less bitter than I would like, but then added one back for the great and unexpected colour and nice aftertaste which made the experience a little more interesting and pleasant than it otherwise might have been.

Pours a tea colour with a very small head. Malt on the nose. The taste is a combo of malts and caramel and hops, but a bit thin, but that’s to the style. This does not taste like an American/Canadian IPA and it’s not supposed to.
Feb 4 2021

Eagle IPA from The Eagle Brewing Company in Bedford, UK. 5 percent alc. Colour is that of ice tea and a thin beige head that evaporates quickly. Smell is kind of weak overall but there are notes of toasted barley and hops. Taste is mostly malt but in a subtle way with a slight bitterness noticeable at the back of the tongue. Mouthfeel is a bit watery. Beer itself is medium bodied with a really pleasant malt finish. Overall, I give it a B+. I’d love to try it on tap. That would push it into the A range, I think. I can picture sipping a few of these in an English pub! Definitely recommend trying it.

 

 

 

 

From hand pumped cask

Dark golden in color, a bit of Haze. Foamy white head. Mild earthy hop aroma. Taste is mildly bitter. Bready malt flavor and mild grassy hop flavor. Thinner bodied.

Having this on a hand pump and I don't think that's a good idea. It's very smooth but being such a low ABV, I don't think the pump does this any favors. It becomes sour as the glass empties. Looks good, feels good, but it must be better in bottle or on tap.