Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Lefty's India Pale Ale

Lefty's Brewery is a small steam powered seven barrel brewery in Greenfield, Massachusetts.  It is co-owned by head brewer Bill Goldfarb and marketeer Melissa Forostoski both of whom just so happen to be south paws (i.e.lefties).

This brewery came to my attention via a friend of friend and mother of Melissa.  

I have been meaning to make my way to the brewery to meet Bill & Melissa and check out their brewery   Recently, I was passing through but we couldn't coordinate our schedules to facilitate a visit so I did the next best thing and stopped by a local liquor store - Ryan and Casey - that stocked their brews and picked up a few bottles.

The first to escape the confines of my refrigerator was the India Pale Ale.  It was a hot, sticky, nasty day.  So, what's a better refresher than a crisp, tart IPA?

India Pale Ale (6.6% ABV) poured somewhat hazy golden color with a lasting fizzy head that left behind nice lacing.

The aroma wasn't what I expected. It was sweet, bready and malty with barely of whisper of hops.  Not bad smell at all, quite nice in fact, just different.

The taste was much like the aroma, malty and bready.  It's different, fore sure.  Not IPAish in a way expect and IPA to be.  That is,  bitter and hoppy with a bite.  There's a pilsner like flavor at the tail end.  The finish is dry with some bitterness.  
The mouth feel was fairly light with gentle carbonation.  Drinkable, tasty and refreshing.

Lefty's IPA is not a typical for the style.  It's good beer but lacks the bright hoppy characteristics that I love in an India pale ale. 

Overall: good

2 comments:

Melissa said...

The reason the IPA is not super hoptastic is because its an English-style IPA, not a west coast style IPA. Completely different way of brewing this style, and a different malt to hop ratio. We use Cascade and Chinook whole leaf hops, not pellets, which also creates a less dry and bitter IPA especially in the finish, compared to most others. That may give you some more feed back from your review.

Bräuista said...

Well, that explains it. DUH!