Red Arrow Brewing Company Sweet Leaf IPA American IPA at 6.3% ABV | 65 IBU (C$6.41 at Oak & Vine, 650 ml, no packaging date or best before, acquired 5-Jun-2017, reviewed 7-Jun-2017)
Appearance: clear (except for the heavily particulate-laden final half inch) medium amber with two fingers of rocky off-white head, good retention and moderate lacing. (4/5) Aroma: citrus zest, biscuity and caramel malt, tropical and stone fruit, grass, faint resiny pine. (6/10) Taste: moderate sweet, moderate-high bitter. (6/10) Medium slightly oily body, moderate carbonation, moderate bitter finish. (4/5)
Meh – if you’re gonna choose a name comparing your hops to pot – and plagiarizing Sabbath lyrics on the label, to boot – you might want to make sure you’ve got some pretty dank West Coast style hopping going on. This is almost English in style, with citrusy hops and crackery caramel duking it out for the front runner position, with a grassy, weedy note bringing up a very distant rear and hardly worthy of top billing. The colour is relatively dark as well, again more in keeping with an E/IPA. Decent drying bitter finish on the tongue, though. (Completely unrelated to the beer: what’s up with the massive, heavy bottle? You’re not doing bottle-conditioned ales needing high pressure ratings, why use such thick glass?) (13/20)
6.5/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com
