Meantime India Pale Ale

Brewed by Meantime
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
London, England

A nice pop as I pull the champagne cork, lovely smell of hops. Pours a cloudy amber with a rather large head. A splendid beer, full of fresh citus fruit, lime with a hint of apricot. Soft and smooth. The label says is has some wheat malt, which explains the head. Fuggles and Goldings hops give more fruitiness than bitterness, but it is bitter enough to give a refreshing twist in the tail. A little warming is the only sign of the alcohol. I like the "unfiltered and not primed with new yeast" ideology, too! My only objection iws the weight of the bottle, this is a bit much to drag around!

750 ml caged and corked bottle from The Lighthouse in Manchester. Pours a hazy yellow-orange body with a good inch of rocky off-white head that leaves some lacing and clings to the side of the glass. Smells citrusy, grassy, and herbal (if I had to guess, Fuggles?) Tastes citrusy (grapefruit, orange), grassy, sweet, with some caramel. Full, rich body, though not viscous by any means. Moderate carbonation, enough to leave a semi-clean finish. Wow, very tasty and dangerously drinkable. Far and away the very best example of the style (English IPA) that I have ever encountered. One of the best IPAs of any kind I’ve had. A bit pricey (9$/bottle), but well-worth the treat.

But friends, this beer changed my life. Appearance: Pours out a blurred coppery orange with a very fluffy, very inviting white head. Smell: Exhilarating aroma of fresh bread, butter, and toffee tied to the spicy, herbal scent of English hops. Taste: Yum! This brew was a perfect blend of caramel sweetness, rich grains, and a citrus hop flavor reminiscent of orange marmalade. Nice spicy finish. Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Carbonation is soft and fine. Drinkability: Very much so. I can’t help but lavish this beer with uplifting compliments, positive energy, good-cheer thoughts and sugarplums.

Great presentation with a unique bottle and name. Plenty of hops with a clean finish. I have some work to get done but in the "Meantime" I’m gonna have a beer.

750ml bottle, highly hopped, spicy aroma, copper hue with an authentic frothy head, very spicy, lots of hops evident, a long bitter finish with a lemon twist, an excellent IPA.

It is sometimes hard to be objective about a beer that costs nothing, when in fact it was clearly one of the more expensive beers in the bar. After our first beer at Transport in Melbourne on the deneoument of SBIX, Shag and I were about to wander off to Mrs Parmas and have a last beer before going to the airport to wait for our invariably late running Qantas flight to Sydney. We looked outside and the rain was quite enough to keep us there for another. So, after a review of the extensive but not necessarily exciting beer list I was asked by our lovely barkeep Roxy, who later introduced herself as the bar manager, what I fancied. My reply took her aback as I indicated I had tried all of the numbered beers and wanted something new. Her look of disbeleif changed as soon as I indicated I was a ratebeer member. "OK, sure. Of course you have, these are all pretty mainstream beers even though 90% of the punters have not even tried a tenth of them". Of the new and unnumbered beers was a good selection of the Meantime beers. I had heard good reports about the IPA and so asked for a bottle of it. Shag was going to shout and pulled out his $50 until Roxy said she wanted us to enjoy it with her compliments. So, given that she has no vested interest in my rating what do I think? Fantastic! A rich warm coppery hue with a large fluffy head that adheres to glass all the way down. A tribute of course to the delightful viscosity provided by the ample hop contribution. The nose is sweet and bitter all at the same time. Caramel and malt dominating. For me, what sets this apart is the departure from the usual hop profile of cascade and amarillo that most of the recent American style IPAs have presented. The traditional English hops are a fine addition to this beer and if we are to believe the blurb, the beer is a real throwback to the old days. The complexity of this is noted in the rich mouthfeel, delicate ABV presence and the citrus aftertaste with toffee and caramel in the blend. A really fine beer and a great way to round out another great Stinky Boys.

As great IPA for what it is, it has a strong floral preseance and the bitterenss is appearant but very smooth. Swwet and floral with a caramel feel to it.

I’m not a fan of Hook’s brewing style. He likes clean beers, while I like beers with a bit of rough character. He likes to imitate and follow, while I like brewers who produce interesting beers. He produces a lot of lagers, while I like ale. And when he does venture into ales, it’s to copy the clean style of American brewers rather than the fruity, yeasty style of the British. It’s typical of Hook that when he makes an "authentic" British IPA, having "carefully researched the history of the style" and wanting to make it as "true to the London origin as possible" that he simply copies the American IPA, and then advises people to "pay attention to the serving procedure" by serving at "refridgerator temperature" and to pour carefully "so retaining any sediment in the bottle". God forbid that you should actually want to taste any fucking character in this beer! Sure enough it’s a clean tasting American IPA. Perhaps softer than most IPAs - hovering around in the area between an APA and an IPA - but certainly All American. There is mention of "pound upon pound of Fuggles & Goldings", though the hops taste more American cascade than earthy British. The malt is juicy, well behaved and quite sticky sweet like American malt. I like it. And I like the hops. I may moan and bitch about Meantime, and the brewing attitude, but I have to hold my hanbds up and admit that this is a nice beer. Yep, it is clearly aimed at the American market. Yep, it ignores (as do all of Hook’s beers) the British beer culture in which he is based. Yep it is clean and predictable. Yep, he has simply copied other people. But, it’s a damn tasty beer. It’s fresh, juicy, sweet, well balanced - not aggressive as some IPAs can be, and well made. I’m enjoying this. It’s a spanking good ale. It might even make my beer of the month.