Lakefront IPA

Brewed by Lakefront Brewery
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

(Bottle) Purchased at Spinnakers Spirit Merchants in James Bay for $3.07. Pours a good almond-coloured, lasting frothy head atop an orange body. Very fresh vibrant hop nose. Great flavour too... sharp pine and floral hops meld in an oranges wash. Very enjoyable!

03-Jun-08 (12-oz bottle, Bottled Dec, 2007: Purchased 12-May-08 for $1.79 at Hi-Time Wine Cellars in Costa Mesa, CA) Pouring the beer into the glass, those wonderfully fresh, American hops jump out of the glass. Pine, earth and citrus are the focus, with lightly sweet-smelling caramel and pale malts contributing significantly too. On the palate, dry, earthy, resiny and slightly dusty hops are prominently at center stage from the entry through to the long-lasting finish, but toasty and caramely malts still provide a solid base. While the malts are mildly sweet, the earthy flavor and resiny bitterness minimize the impression of sweetness. Medium-full in body with medium carbonation, but somehow the hoppy bitterness loses punch late in the finish, resulting in a brooding earthiness that sits heavily on the palate. The cloudy, golden-amber body is capped by a tightly-knit, off-white layer of foam that builds to half an inch on the pour before settling to a wide ring and thin mat. Lacing is spotty. Overall, a pretty good IPA if you like ’em earthy and resiny, but things just seem a bit muddled, especially in the finish.

Sampled from a 12 oz brown bottle this beer poured a very cloudy apricot color with a huge foamy orange-beige head that lingered and produced great lacing. The aroma was strong sweet pine, grapefruit and floral hops wit a touch of catbox and pepper. The flavor was sweet and fruity with notes of pineapple, grapefruit, lemon, pine and caramel. The finish was medium length, sweet and fruity. Medium body. Very pleasant.

Very bright peachy copper body with a thin bubble ring floating on top. Very odd some chunky white stuff just fell from the bottle never seen that in an IPA before. Aroma is a yummy fuzzy peach, smooth malt and no trace of harsh bitter. Peachy hops, hints of pine, watery caramel malt that had some spice, excellent carbonation. A massive harsh bitter was hiding in the fish that begs you to keep on drinking more. The taste is excellent but seems held back by something, however this is still a top notch IPA.

Aroma was outstanding. Apricot, peach, and fruit with a touch of pine. I liked this bottle before I tasted it. Appearance was a hazy dark gold with a tall, thick, lasting head. For taste, it’s not the strongest or the most bitter or the hopiest, but it seems to have a real balance that sticks with you from the general thickness. For the style, I would describe this as thick and I think that’s a good thing. Alcohol taste is virtually nonexistent. Overall, very glad I tried it and hope to try it again.

Pours out a medium amber filled with blobs and chunks and I watched them cannonball through the thick tan foam. Crazy lacing early on but I’m not that fond of the soup that is my beer. Very nice scents of peaches, oranges, ruby red grapefruit, light spice, a touch of sweat, faint pine and a solid sweet caramel base. Very fruity and succulent - I love this breed of ipa’s. Candy, very sweet peaches. Damn! Dropping back the first sip I as instantly drooling - this is exactly the type of ipa I love. Big in your face flavours that do not hold back what so ever. Peaches, pine (who ever thought that this was a good flavour combo anyway?), grapefruit, tons of caramel, everything is balanced well. Sweet and mouth smacking, the bitterness is big but the cloying nature holds it back from punishing me too much. OK, a couple of minutes later and my mouth is still suffering from the hop onslaught that I assumed was subdued - I was wrong. Excitement for this flavour wise has waned now after a 10 minute break a bit but multiple swigs brings it back around but at a lesser level that the early taste bud beatdown. I’ve been drinking this a bit on the colder side of where I usually like to review. Maybe the fact that I’m putting this back so damn fast is the problem and my ’buds are exhausted. Maybe they know that a dram of Ardbeg SuperNova looms overhead like a creeping hail storm just waiting... biding it’s time to strike the unprepared. Damn - I love drinking! Big ass bitter finnish and fruity lingerings keep me happy. Not overly complex but who cares when you are enjoying every sip. This does not finish as strong as it began but I tell you that the 3 second belch that just savaged my throat, nose and singed my eyes tells me that I’ve had a good time.

Hazy dull Orange pour, nice head, lacing, 1/2 inch lasting head. Tart citrus hops, not too much on the pine front, more citrus..Slightly sticky, but not as much as other IPAs I’ve drank..Abit mild..but very easy to drink.

Very herbal in smell and taste. Did not expect that coming from an IPA. Great overall taste.