Brains Craft Brewery Barry Island IPA
Brains

330 ml can, from Ales By Mail. ABV is 5.0%. Amber colour, moderate white head. The aroma is busting with citrussy hops, some caramel and toffee in the background. The flavour is first smooth and moderately fruity, with distinct bittering hops in the end.

Pours dark yellow and fizzy. Has a minimal head that fades very quickly. The taste is harsh and peppery and it sticks to the mouth and throat. Really bad execution. Despite a label of American IPA it does not taste very hoppy at all and I would not even identify it as an IPA but a badly made bitter ale made by an amateur. This stuff goes to show that not everybody who brews beer should get to sell it.

Amber colored beer with a small white head. The head disappeared rather quickly and left no lace.
Citrus aroma, not much else.
Grapefruit and orange taste. Underwhelming.
Light tomedium bodied.

 

According to the label on the bottle "...this India Pale Ale was inspired by the 'IPA revolution' across the pond." Also that a "...trio of hops from the US..." has been used and that the ale "...is bursting with citrus aromas."

Unfortunately it does not smell or taste really much different to your old fashioned, common variety bland British IPA. I don't really get much citrus or the bitter tang of extra 'hoppiness' you might associate with an American style IPA. It is certainly drinkable, but doesn't live up to its own hype and is nothing special what-so-ever.

 

 

 

 

 

 

330ml bottle, poured into La Chouffe tulip.

A: Bronze, apple juice like in appearance, clear with a small head and a minimal amount of lacing.

S: American citrus hops (Cascade and Simcoe) and laced with a note of Vanilla, which leads me to Saaz hop but I could be wrong.

T: Grapefruit and other citrus fruits with the gummi bears I always think of while drinking an APA. Finish was long, bitter and lingering, but this eased off towards the
end.

M: Slightly heavy body, low to minimal amount of carbonation.

O: Billed as an American style IPA, but to my palate it was more of an
English Pale/Indian Pale Ale or APA.

 

 

Can. 5% ABV. Light golden amber with a thin frothy head.
Light aroma of fruity hops. Lemon and blackberry.
An attempted balance made with some caramel malt present. Quite a pithy bitter finish.
Well carbonated with a medium body.
Not too far from an over hopped unbalanced EIPA.
Initial score 3.0 at 6.0%ABV and then reviewed Aug' 2022.

 

Coming in a 330ml slim brown bottle, BB 08/2014, served mildly chilled in a straight imperial pint glass. Notes: the back label says this beer is “[c]reated by Simon Martin, aka Mr Real Ale Guide, this India Pale Ale was inspired by the ‘IPA revolution” across the pond”.

A: pours a orangey amber colour with great clarity, coming with very restrained carbonation and a fluffy off-white beer head to last.
S: the smell upfront has sweet-ish orangey fruitiness with a light level of acidity, as well as being sweet floral and intriguingly candy-ish; given a good swirl, the floral scent is mixed well with the grainy malts with an edge of sweetness like corn syrup, and muted gooseberry-like aroma. Altogether, the aroma is quite mild in terms of the citrus aromas that the brewers would like to present (as per back label).
T: interesting on the palate, the foretaste is quite exotic (estery), not sweet, decorated by a touch of savoury acidity, then followed quickly by a flow of spicy bitterness which at the same time wipes the remaining sweet elements to render an increasingly dry aftertaste. Not enough “citrus and berry hop flavours” (as promised on the back label) are felt on my palate, while the dry and bitter touch from the hops seems to makes up for the loss of flavours.
M&O: moderately carbonated, medium-bodied, quite bitter and dry but not deliciously hoppy enough. All in all not a bad drink, just a bit weird and unbalanced.

 

330ml Bottle from Tesco (£1.50):
Light amber with a few golden tinges and a disappointing looking head that consists of a few tiny white bubbles on top that soon disappears.

Caramel with bitter hops and some grass and touches of toffee as well. There is a light hint of butterscotch and some vanilla coming through alongside some citrus but it is the caramel and bitterness that dominate and the rest is quite faint.

Medium bitterness and light, grassy hops come through first alongside some sweetness and vanilla, although both of there are as light as they were on the nose. The beer is finished off with some caramel and further bitterness.

Medium in body with a slightly sticky mouthfeel and some sweetness coming through as well throughout. Carbonation was quite light and there was a bitterness that made itself know from the start.

A beer I was much looking forward to trying based on the 'American IPA' label but it failed to live up to my expectations for it and wasn't all that much like an American IPA as I know it. A real disappointment.