Magic Hat Lucky Kat

Formerly brewed at Magic Hat Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
South Burlington, Vermont USA

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

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UPDATED: MAY 8, 2009 Pours a clear honey color with a frothy slightly off-white head. Aroma is of malt sweetness, a little honey, fruit - apricot or pear, and a slight mustiness. Fruit flavor up front, but the body is too thin, the middle is lacking because of lack of body. The finish, however, is excellent, just a hint of sweetness leads into a nice drying hop finish. Hop flavor lingers nicely on the tongue. Overall - a disappointment.

Originally reviewed: 11/4/08. Pours a nice deep orange with a large foamy off-white head. Excellent retention with nice sticky lacing. Good amount of bubbles coming off the bottom of the glass. Smells like bread, some malt and a little metal. This brew tastes great. Nice amount of hop bitterness that isn’t harsh at all. A little more mellow than I was expecting from an IPA. Taste some grains, with a little malt sweetness that is just enough to balance this nicely. This has a very good aftertaste, like I just ate some fresh buttered bread. I dig this brew. I will seek this out in the future whenever I can.

Great brew. I feel like this tastes better warm than cold. Semi-heavy, sweet-ish taste.

Bottle. Similar to other Magic Hat brews, but with one notch lower hoppy aroma and flavors. Moderate carbonation. Nice medium amber color. Moderately bitter finish. Drinkable. The Hi PA is better.

Pours a reddish brown with a two finger bubbly off white head that dissipates slowly and leaves minimal lacing. Smells of citrus and flowery hops, with a bit of sweet honey and caramel malt aromas. Taste is a bit floral earthy almost mineraly with a sweet malt edge. Sweet honey and maybe some brown sugar in there with a hint of butterscotch. Long lingering sweetness in the finish. Medium body and carbonation, with a watery/syrupy almost tart mouthfeel. Decent brew, but hardly an IPA. If it were a pale ale I might have scored it higher. Better than most magic hat brews, but pedestrian when compared to some other craft brew offerings.

Looks good, pouring a dark, slightly hazed red-amber, with a light beige head that lasts like a champ. But the smell brings your expectations crashing down, blandly smelling of malt, hop, and ambiguous beer. Super malty for having such a "big hop bite!" Dumbed down IPA, minimal bitterness, with no hop flavor save for oily IBUs. Smooth and creamy, but even a good feel can’t save this brew. (6/8/09)

UPDATED: APR 12, 2012 Aroma is odd sweet malts with some earthy hops. Taste is bitter fruity malts overpowered by earthy hops. Overall IPA isn’t my style and this one is a little off.

Comes in a 12 oz bottle with a tedious looking label with lots of random things on it like "an IPA" and "beer kitty, kitty". Best before October 09. Pours into my american pint glass with a decent slightly off-white foamy head that rises to the top with a copper/orange color for the beer. Head is very sticky. Smell is pretty malty, with some grassy hops. The malt is thick and caramel scented. Mothfeel is a bit watery on this one for an IPA. Taste is of a strong malt backbone with slightly biscuity and caramel malts. The hops penetrate the tounge in the finish with a medium bitterness with some residual malt flavors and some metal as well. With the regressed mouthfeel I feel the drinkability suffers for this one too. The taste really is pretty decent, but the way it is presented in the mouth could be fine tuned a lot better. Overall its an average IPA, on the shallower end of flavor intensity, even for an East Coast IPA.

Rich amber/cider color; Medium slightly creamy body; Aroma of floral hops, citrus, & some caramel; Flavor of sweet malt, hops, and citrus (notably grapefruit); Finish is slightly bitter; Fairly well balanced; A decent IPA overall.

Pours hazy orange with white head, aroma is light citrus hops with a touch of caramel. I saw another review saying this is IPA light, that is a good description. Some hops, some caramel, and a little bitter. Good intro to IPAs, but not an IPA drinkers beer.

Dull gold pour releases floral hop and sweet malt in a robust head. The medium body is sweet and lightly hoppy with an equally light--and admittedly proportional--caramel malt proportionally balanced to the hops. This isn’t going to sound like a positive recommendation but it’s a great introduction to an IPA for the wholly uninitiated who might be turned off by an aggressively hopped, American IPA, irrespective of how balanced that brew might be. I look at this as IPA Light, but not pejoratively so.