Z Street IPA

Brewed by Mercury Brewing and Distribution
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Ipswich, Massachusetts USA

Pale gold, clear, white cover. Juicy pineapple and melon nose, dull plasticy yeast notes. Watery palate, incredibly thin and soda popped feel. Dry hopped mess, devastating absence of apparent malt, no depth, salty and sulfury. There are many bad IPAs out there and this one just gave me the kick in the bottom I need once in a while to remember avoiding those. Really too bad as I know concord can brew great stuff.

Mild floral citrus hop nose with solventy undertone. Clear light copper coloured body with low white head that lasts and laces. Very bitter flavour with little malt character. Some orange hop flavour apparent. Thin, light body with fair carbonation. Bottle (gift, May-05) enjoyed with MartinT, Olivier_MTL and Rastacouere at Martin’s ’Bachelor Party’! Thanks, ClarkVV!

The Lure:
Earthy, citrusy, orange-y and leafy hops proliferate at an astounding rate. Malts aren’t participating much, this is a hophead’s daily fix.

The Festivities:
Back bitterness shocks the palate without offering any peace or distinct flavoring. Carbonation is quite frothy for the style, and makes the portentous hoppiness feel chalky. Oranges are prevalent, and obviously hop character dominates the feeble malt presence. No attempt to balance in this bottle, which I respect, but this was too agressive for me that day.

Transcendence:
Even with good intentions, a misplaced pat on the back can really hurt your neck.

Blonde pale aux teintes de miel. Apparence un peu brouillée sous une faible mousse blanche. Arômes très peu engageants rappelant un économique cocktail de houblon dilué à l’eau et servi dans un verre émanant des vapeurs de plastique. Presque totale absence de goût, pas de soutien du malt, toujours ce même faible houblon, un peu minérale. Corps mince semblant abusivement atténué, carbonatation piquante en bouche. Suivante svp…Bouteille possiblement problématique.

Bottle: poured yellow/orange with a medium white head. Kind of a candy, hoppy aroma with some apple. Moderate hop citrus flavor with a nice amount of maltiness. Bitter, smooth finish. Very nice.

Nice big head! Foamy and fluffy and yellow. Very strong lemon aroma, defnitely hoppy. They retired this? Too bad.

Bottle. Amber color with large rocky white head (from an exploding bottle). Big fruity aroma: apples, citrus, occassional pine. Fairly well balanced yet large flavors: more of the same mentioned in the aroma, with a solid malt backing, medium body, lingering bitter finish. Solid all around.

2004 bottle. Now contract brewed by Concord Brewery. WOW. This just blew me away. When EddieG rates an IPA high, you know it’s gonna be good, but I wasnt prepared for this one. Aroma hints at good things to come. Huge centennial spiciness, bitterness from the that and the Cascades and a bit of floral, fruitiness from the Goldings and again from the centennials. Good caramelized orange candy in there. the flavor is just spectacular. . .Immensely balanced and just full flavored. Candy flavors, light pine hops, plenty of fruitiness and a bit of dry, earthy malt on the very end. Bitterness is perfect, not overthetop and ruining, but lingering and moderate. The flavor that really wins me over though, is the light candied flavor right near the end, reminding me heavily of a fruity belgian dark strong (delirium noel, affligem noel perhaps). No wateriness, the aroma stays down to the end as well. Medium to medium-full body. Big creamy white head that reduces to just a foamy cover, tons of lacing and a deep honey orange color. Clear and filtered. I’ll be getting some more of this. 8/4/8/4/17

2005 bottle, Mercury brewing version. I keep seeing all of these horrible reviews of the beer but I have yet to have a bad bottle. Quite the contrary, it has a foamy white head, low filtration, with sweaty, dusty goldings hops intersparsed between thick citrus, lemons especially. Caramel and cookieish malts provide light sweetness in the nose. The flavor begins dry, with a leafy green hop flavor that washes well over the palate through its soft mouthfeel and low carbonation. The lightly sweet cookie-like malts add balance and tickle the tongue, and then dry out significantly, providing a more biscuity, white bread-like feel on the end, coupled with some house yeast character of the brewery. 7/4/7/4/15