Cape Ann Fishermans IPA

Brewed by Cape Ann Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Gloucester, Massachusetts USA

Received as part of Beer Club... A -Not a bad looking beer. Light amber is color with lots of carbonation. Looks thin, over filtered, as though all the body has been stripped out. S - Not a bad smelling beer, but just not consistent with the IPA style. Very malty. Once again, not bad...but smells more like a malty/bready amber. Maybe a touch of citrus, but certainly no big citrus/earthy/piney/floral smells as one would expect. T - Just not a lot here. Not awful, no off-flavors...but just a very underwhelming beer. Bitterness is there but there are no hop flavors. Malt/bready flavors are there but are totally dominated by the bitterness. Dry finish. Very confusing beer and not consistent with the style. M - Thin with lots of carbonation. D - It’s a drinkable beer. I certainly didn’t consider putting it down the drain, but it’s just not a very good beer. I almost feel as though this beer was mislabeled. I guess it does have some bitterness which might be IPA-ish to some, but I would honestly rate this as an slightly below average Amber as opposed to a very very bad IPA. No off-flavors, so it’s plenty drinkable but one of the worst examples of an IPA I’ve ever had. Looking forward to trying their award winning Kolsch.

Slightly hazy amber pour that throws up a tall, lasting chunky head of off-white. Floral hop nose. The flavor is mildly sweet with a small amount of bitterness and a touch of dry hops at the back. Nothing bad here, but this could use a few tweaks to make it stellar.

Faint aroma with a thin pour and little head. Nice copper color. With some floral notes and not a lot of hops, but taste the malt. Otherwise little flavor with a slight butterscotch aftertaste.

Bottle. Poured this one into my glass then into the sink. Bottle was old, no hops, malt only, tasted like water. Perhaps a fresh bottle could be in order, but I am not sure where I would find this. Some things are just better left on tap, and this would fall into that category.

This mediocre IPA pours a dark orange color with a soft and sticky off-white head. The head left a good amount of lacing around the glass. There wasn’t much to the aroma, with only slight hints of grass, hops, caramel and pine. The body was very drinkable and smooth, but the flavors fell short of a really good IPA. There wasn’t as much hop flavor as I would have liked. The front of the body seemed a little watery, with most of the flavors showing through toward the end. The finish and aftertaste were pretty decent with a crisp and dry hoppy character. There was also a nice maltiness to the beer that provided a rich balance. But the lack of hops overall in this beer made this IPA fall a bit short.

12 ounce bottle from Vintage Cellar in Blacksburg, VA. Pours a hazy red color with a medium-large frothy head. Good head retention and lacing. Aroma is citrus hops, caramel and nutty notes. Taste is strong leafy, resiny and citrus hops with notes of caramel, butterscotch and almonds. Medium bodied.

Another taster shared with Philly gents- Dark orange pour. Malty- grassy grains and a slight citrus bitterness that lingered.

From a bottle poured amber with a fair amount of head. Nice hoppy flavor with a lasting finish.