Granville Island Whitecaps IPA

Formerly brewed at Granville Island (Taproom - MolsonCoors)
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Vancouver, Canada

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

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Pours a clear golden yellow with a brief white head. Aroma of cascade hops and sweet malt - very sweet. Lots of hops in the taste - plenty of bite. All cascades - grapefruit, limited in depth. Nice dry hoppy finish, but think and low in carb. Decent beer but lacking in character - pretty stock and bland. Hoppy, though. If this were a regular and not a seasonal, I’d say well done.

(Bottle) Pours yellow to pale golden. The aroma holds white grapes, black tea-like hops, fruits/pineapple and toasted, bready malt. The flavour is light to medium sweet and medium bitter with black tea, mild citrus, wood, fruits, bread, toast and dough. The mouthfeel is soft and clean. Medium bodied.

Draft on past trip. Good balance between malt and hops, but bitterness was understated, Modest head. Golden amber color. Medium body.

Had this beer several years ago, big hoppy flavor, pretty bitter. Dark amber color.

Draft at G.I.B., B.C.: A bit darker than I expected, though I was figuring they were going for the English version. Flavor was "darker" too, with forward notes of dark toast and toffee. Hops kind of played nicely like well-behaved children, but it wasn’t much fun. They offered some restrained notes of flowers, plants and citrus, with a somewhat harsh, bitter-grass quality in the aftertaste. Carbonation seemed a bit too much. Relatively drinkable, overall, but not my kind of IPA -- American style or English style.

Ratings from notes taken September 09. Light yellow pour, hoppy aroma. Flavor was also lightly hoppy with some sweet citrus on the finish. Not bad, but average.

Another of GI’s limited releases, for Spring. Quite a nice IPA, with a good, foamy head and a light amber colour. Not a lot of aroma to this one, but I did enjoy the somewhat hoppy taste. I’ll be getting a few more of these to put away for later. Too bad GI doesn’t brew this all year, as it ’tis MUCH better than their everyday stuff.

[Bottled. Thx rickgordon] Golden with a small, white head. A bit confusing aroma; sourish like white wine and yeast. Pretty dry and grassy hoppiness. Ok malty sweetness. Slightly oily palate.

Bottle (65 cl), thanks rickgordon. Hazy golden, medium white head. White wine-like aroma (Sauvignon Blanc) with some citric hops, and earthy notes. Light to medium bodied, soft mouthfeel. Well balannced, dry and moderately bitter finish.

(650 ml bottle, thanks Kinga via rickgordon)
On Ocotber 18, 2008
2008 edition.
Hazy pale golden color, off-white to orange head. Citrussy, lemon-like scent. Ratehr weak small. Sweet, pineapple and bitter taste. Dry aftertaste. Thin mouthfeel, low initial bitterenss.

Bottle. Golden-amber with a good sized white head. Pleasant aroma of soft, sweet malt and pine & citrus hops. Medium bodied. Flavour follows the aroma - fairly simple, but a good flavour balance of sweet malt and citric hops, with a moderately long finish. Not earth-shattering, but quite enjoyable.