American Bottled Beer Tasting Session

After realising that I was living less than half a mile away from a fantastic beer boutique, Dr. Ink of Fulham, I made the trip over with a friend in order to pick up some beers in order to get us in the mood for the upcoming beer festivals.

Upon arriving we were amazed at the selection not only of British bottle conditioned ales but there was also a fridge stocked up with American bottles and a whole cabinet of Belgian, Dutch and German beers. Needless to say some restraint was needed in order to avoid blowing off the purse strings. In the end we returned with 5 American bottled beers, a couple of British bottle conditioned beers and a flagon of Weston's Cider.

In this blog I'll be reviewing the American bottles which included:
1) Goose Island IPA A 5.9% IPA described as a "hop  lovers dream"
A lovely light, golden IPA with a mild fruity aroma. Taste is initially quite refreshing with a long dry, bitter aftertaste. Not overpowering with the hops.
2) Goose Island Honkers Ale A 4.2% English Style Ale
Nice copper coloured beer with a pleasant but not too strong aroma. Nice malty taste but no huge hop flavour. Very drinkable and overall quite a pleasant experience. Nothing too exciting but a nice beer nonetheless.
3) Brooklyn Brewery East India Pale Ale A 6.9% deep golden beer using a variety of old and new world hops
Nice and golden as they say with a reasonable hop aroma. On the palate it has a nice hop flavour with just a hint of citrus coming through towards the end before finishing off in a nice crisp flavour. A nice refreshing, thirst quenching beer. Very drinkable for a 6.9%.
4) Flying Dog Snake Dog IPA A 7.1% "hop monster"
A lovely light golden IPA with a rather pungent hop aroma. A heavy floral hit of hops is balanced out nicely with a little burst of lemon-pineapple citrus flavour. One of the nicest beers I've had today. Nice as something new but a bit too strong of flavour to have more than 1.
5) Odell IPA A 7% IPA which uses American hops to create a "distinctive bitterness profile and an incredible hop character"
Lovely light IPA. A big floral hoppy aroma is followed by a huge hit of those new world hops we love so much. Quite similar to BrewDog's Punk IPA but with a slightly more citrus flavour. I can't get enough of beers like this. Definitely one to buy again.

So there you go. A selection of reviews of some lovely American beers. One last thing, I realise there's now a few people who actually read this blog but none of you guys feel the need to comment. Comments really are the lifeblood of any blog and it allows me to see what you guys think of my musings. So even if it's just to say you think it's rubbish then I do appreciate any comments.


I'm off to the Windsor LocAle Beer Festival today so there'll be a review and hopefully some photos appearing on here soon.