Goose Island India Pale Ale

Brewed by Goose Island Beer Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Chicago, Illinois USA

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

On tap at Elephant & Castle in Chicago. Pours a clear orange straw color. Big white head with very good retention. Wonderful aroma of piney hops. Flavor is grass and earthy hops, but with a hint of toffee sweetness and roasted grains. Medium mouthfeel and lingering floral hop finish. Nice.

Hazy warm golden. A really nice white/beige head that says "come drink me now!!" Aroma is butterscotch, peanuts and freshly baked bread. Some floral notes aswell. Taste is sweet, juicy and hoppy. Also a lot of floral flavours, bergamot and orange peel. Sustaining bitter finish. Very drinkable. A bit too sweet for my liking but still a very solid IPA.

Rating #406, bottle from Fish N’ Beer, brought by Amer

A bit unclear, dark golden beer with a little head. Aroma is strawberries, blackberries, elderflower, redcurrant, malts and cascade hops. Flavor is berries, especiall redcurrant and blackberries, but also a lot of bitterness starting already before the finish. Seems more bitter than a lot of other IPA’s, mainly because the bitterness isn’t isolated in the finish. Medium body and carbonation. Quite nice.

12 oz. bottle. Pours a clear golden color with a medium off-white head that lasts throughout and leaves decent lacing. The aroma has quite a bit of malt with really nice citrus and floral notes. Excellent forward flavor of the pale ale malt with a finish that is spicy and floral. Extremely well balanced. Medium body. Medium carbonation. Really nice IPA

Goose Island really came through to create an "everyday" IPA that is perfect for a nice session. Spicy hops and clean finish with no fuss. No odd aftertaste or overly bitter hops that seem to appear in many other IPAs. This might be favorite non-DIPA.

One to any exponential power is still 1. I find the same can be said of the adjective "good." In other words, it doesn’t matter how many times and in how many different aspects you use the word "good" to describe something, since it doesn’t make it better than just plain good. I have a feeling I’m going to use that word quite often to describe Goose Island India Pale Ale. This is a beer that is good in so many ways, but not a great beer. It’s a case of a "good" being good enough if "good enough" is good enough for you.

APPEARANCE AND AROMA

I poured a 12oz bottle into a tulip glass. This beer has all the makings of a good IPA right away with a slightly hazy orange body and frothy, off-white head (which leaves some lacing on the glass). It smells quite inviting with a citrusy aroma with notes of pine and some malty sweetness as well. It’s definitely an inviting beer.

TASTE

Goose Island IPA is the kind of India Pale Ale I’d recommend for beginners looking for a good "jumping on point" for the style. It begins with a creamy texture which is slightly dry and sweet and finishes with a prominent, slightly crisp, citrus taste. The dynamics of the palette here are quite interesting. The pale malts create for a mild sweetness and the combination of some British hops give the beer the bitterness you expect in an IPA.

As I drank on I noticed the flavors began to homogenize. The refreshing citrus finish began to dry out making the beer less refreshing than it originally was. The palette began to feel noticeably mild, although I also noticed a slight orange sherbet-like flavor in the aftertaste. For an IPA this beer is not all that bitter. In fact, Goose Island’s website indicates it rates only 55 on the IBU scale. That score is fine if their intention is to make a extremely palatable beer, but for hopheads like me I was left feeling only satisfied instead of genuinely impressed.

DRINKABILITY

While the overall taste to Goose Island IPA was good, it probably performed even better in the drinkability department. The mouthfeel is soft, medium-bodied, and it goes down smooth. As it warms it begins to dry out the mouth and the hops begin to linger for a few extra moments, but ultimately it’s still very palatable.

At only 5.9% ABV this is actually rather light for an IPA. Beers of this style tend to be more robust and weightier, although the trade-off is here is that this would make a good session beer. It would also work well as a dinner drink.

FINAL THOUGHTS

While not the best India Pale Ale in the world, Goose Island IPA is still a good beer for its satisfying taste and easy drinkability. I’d prefer something more robust in many ways, but I don’t think this beer is intended to be anything other than a good IPA, and in that aspect the brewers succeeded.

NOTE: Watch the video version of this review at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAG-kgM8i78

I’m not really a massive fan of IPAs as a style but this is excellent. Beautifully hoppy with great citrus notes and a really pleasant sweetness with hints of caramel. Extremely good.

Bottle at Øldommerkursus. Clear golden with a white head. Aroma heavy hoppy (citrus, pine). Flavour heavy bitter (citrus, pine) and sharp, light sweet (caramel). Medium body, light warmth from alcohol. Very nice.