Ale Architect Brewing Ltd. Partea Earl Grey IPA – American IPA at 6.4% ABV (C$4.36 at Collective, 473 ml, packaged on 2-Aug-2020, acquired 17-Sep-2020, reviewed 24-Sep-2020)
Appearance: clear medium gold with one fat finger of loose off-white head diminishing rapidly to a thin skim and ring, minimal spotty lacing. (3/5) Aroma: citrus, caramel, black tea, berry, herbal. (7/10) Taste: moderate sweet, moderate bitter. (7/10) Palate: medium body, moderate carbonation, off-dry medium duration finish. (4/5)
The label notes say this is hopped with Idaho 7 and Amarillo, with an addition of Earl Grey. I have to say, though, there’s not much Earl Grey / bergamot / lemon that I can detect. There’s not even a lot of additional black tea bitterness in the finish. My fourth or so by these guys, and I have to ask myself why they monkey around with oddball flavours like this (or rose hips and calendula – need I say more?) when their straight-up IPA was a full-on world-class out-of-the-park home run? This isn’t bad, but it’s a bit muddled, with no clear direction. (14/20)
7/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com
