Lafayette Eighty-Five

Brewed by Lafayette Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Lafayette, Indiana USA

Thanks to Bob, Michelle, and mostly my baby Jana for the 12th annual Indiana Microbrewers Festival today! On tap @ the fest. Nose of resin, pine and citrus. The beer is light straw. The mostly lasting white creamy head leaves light lace. The brew is huge with high acidity and a burnt bitterness. The medium body is creamy and soft, the finish feels clean. Lafayette Brewing Co. was hands down my favorite brewer at the fest today.

nothing beats Brewpub fresh IPA. 85 had a light golden color and was quite light bodied. balance was definately toward the hops in this brew grapefruit dominated the taste and the finish was quite bitter, although the malt does make itself known as the beer warms toward the end. this was an extremely well crafted IPA. too bad this brewery is 2 and a half hours away.

on tap-pours a white ring for a head and cloudy yellow color. Aroma is slightly sweet citrus-grapefruit/pine hops, medium malt = 0 . Taste is slightly sweet citrus-grapefruit/pine hops, slight light/medium malt. Nice. Mild carbonation.

Draft at LBC. Heh, heh, heh! Fool your swill-drinking friends with this one! Suprisingly pale; in fact it looks just like a Budweiser. But that just makes the hops seem a little bit bigger. C&C hops are a big surprise in the nose, then in tasting. Good ol’ pine, pineapple & grapefruit, but none of the extreme flavors from an overhopped brew. Lip-puckering, but easy drinking at the same time!

Had this offering on draft on a recent road trip to the brewery. Served in a pub pint glass. Appears a golden amber color with over a inch of head. This is the Lafayette Brewery’s flagship offering. Taste is quite citrusy with a good amount of the hop profile coming through. It’s not over the top hops, but is fairly balanced and is a very good effort. This isn’t going to be a hop-lovers dream beer, but is a very good beer and is very enjoyable. The mouthfeel is refreshing due to the juicy citrus coming through. There is very good lacing throughout the glass as I drink it. This is a good beer to have as your flagship beer and to be know by. I could easily have drank several of these with no problem. Another solid offering from a very good brewery

I had this on tap at the brewery. The color is a medium amber. The smell is almost solely of hops. The taste is a very full hop taste. The grapefruit and floral hops are wonderful. Not much malt noticeable, but this is my kind of beer.

Draft sample and pint at LB brewpub. Poured a hazy golden/amber color with a large fizzy white head that mostly lasted with good lacing. Moderate floral sour citrus aroma. Medium to full body with slick texture and soft carbonation. Medium to heavy bitter flavor with a medium to heavy bittersweet finish of long duration. This is a good drinkable brew.

I have a hard time staying away from this stuff. 85 is a real hop-soup. It’s not balanced real well, though. The mouth feel is too light and there is not a lot of malt balance. I’m no commercial brewer, but it appears that it is not florally hopped at the end like you would expect, but rather hopped at the beginning to add bitterness rather than aroma. Now, as to why I can’t stay away from it...it’s really extremely bitter, but in a good way. Nice and refreshing with a kick to it.