Magic Hat Lucky Kat

Deep Amber coloured body with some hazy orange highlights and a large tan head - this actually looks like a good IPA! Aroma of skunky malt, metal, blood, nuts and a tiny bit of hops, this one does NOT smell like an IPA or even a beer with a single dose of fresh hops. Medium-bodied; Sharp assertive metallic flavour up front with a tiny bit of hops, but mainly grapefruit and pine flavours - not reminiscent of hops. Aftertaste shows foul malt, skunky sugars and a tiny bit of hops. Overall, I kind of expected a bad beer - but this one was a little worse than expected. Definitely not recommended, unless you’d like to see a cheesy example of how not to make an IPA. I sampled this twelve ounce bottle purchased from Chesapeak Gourmet in Queenstown, Maryland on 14-September-2008, sampled on 05-October-2008.

Bottle (12oz). Pours a slightly hazy, bubbly orange-amber with a large mostly-lasting foamy off-white head. Slightly mild aroma of resiny hops, citrus hops, caramel malt and some fruit. Flavour of resiny hops, a touch earthy and with caramel malt, nuts and a decently long bitter finish. Not quite as balanced as it should be, to me. Average to medium bodied. Nothing awesome or anything but it’s not bad at all, I could drink this.

Coppery red, foamy off-white head. Nutty, piney aroma. Flavor is a bit odd - walnuts and caramel, with only a relatively small hop bite. OK, I guess, not really something I’d drink a lot of.

12oz bottle. Ruby red with a rocky white head. Big hop aroma. Lots of florals and citrus. Deep cotton candy. Flavor is a bold malt followed by a sharp grapefruit bitterness. Slightly toasted flavor, very nice bitterness. Light - medium bodied. Great flavor although I would have liked a bit more body.

A hazy amber ale with a thick frothy off white head. Aroma of freshly picked chinook hops, and light berries. In mouth, a good hoppy solid pale ale, with British hops, light grapefruit bitterness, roasted malt, medium bodied. Bought in a garage somewhere in Upstate NY.