Beer Works Back Bay IPA

Brewed by Beer Works
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Boston, Massachusetts USA

Light amber, creamy white head. Nose held subdued notes of citrus, pine, and hints of florals. Flavor was dry and bitter with malt playing no role here. Light bodied, medium carbonation, bitter finish. Not bad, not great...

Part of a sampler four pack. Pours a nice light amber color with a decent head. The scent was grapefruit and hops. The taste was nice, but a bit thin for an IPA, it was lacking the backbone that I was looking for.

On tap at the Salem location. Pours a translucent pale amber with a medium foamy off white lacing head. Aroma of light citrus, floral and some hints of caramel. Flavor was up front hop bitterness, grapefruit and pine. On the dry side with some grainy malts and kind of thin.

Draught. Golden copper color with white head. Aroma of citrus, hops and pine. Flavor of the same, with some bite in the finish. Better than your average IPA.

Draught and Cask at brewpub. Clear golden body with a small white head. Typical run of the mill brewpub IPA. Light body (almost watery) without much malt character. Balance is clearly towards the hops with a flavour that lies somewhere between the citrusy and the pine-tree. Bitterness intensity and length is medium. The cask version was a real disappointment. Instead of having the typical cask pleasant soft carbonation the beer felt like the draught version left on the counter for two hours. Totally lifeless. Draught rating = 3.0, Cask = 2.5. The draught version was pleasant although about as original the burger I had there (which consisted of a patty of ground beef between two buns).

The IPA is good and refreshing. The hops are not overwhelmingly bitter, and it is pretty well balanced with a malty sweetness. It’s not very complex, mostly citrus flavors. It looks decent too, with a copper colored body, and a white frothy head. Herbal qualities can be found in both the aroma and the finish.

Tap at the Canal Street location - a little disappointing after the altbier, but still good - gold with copper tint - kind of bready aroma, with some spicy hops - a little too sweet, and, combined with the citrus/hop bitterness, it tastes like grapefruit with sugar on it - once your palate adjusts to the sweetness it gets a little better, but still not that great.

Draught at fenway location. Pours a light copper color with a fluffy bright white head. Nose is light grassy hops with some sugary caramel notes. Palate is crisp. Flavor of grassy dry hops and caramel sugar notes.