Just like in baseball, a single, a double and a triple were all hits last weekend.
Of course, baseball hasn’t started yet; what I’m talking about is a lineup of White Lion beers I had over a few days: an IPA, a double IPA and a triple IPA.
The downtown Springfield brewery has really expanded its roster over the past few years, so it was time for me to play catch-up thanks to owner Ray Berry and brewer Mike Yates. (Don’t worry, this entire column won’t have baseball references. But maybe just a few.)
The double IPA, named Lion’s Galaxy, worried me a bit at first. As regular readers may recall, I recently said I have had more than my fill of New England-style IPAs, and this beer poured very cloudy like one. But fortunately, it didn’t have too much of the tongue-coating aspect that NEIPAs often have. And even more fortunately, it was delicious. The citrus notes hit your nose right away, accompanied by a solid malt note, but in the flavor profile, they seem to come in the back door (or maybe a side door), again with enough malt to balance the whole operation.
Don’t get me wrong, the juiciness is right there and there is plenty of it, but is preceded by (or maybe accompanied by) a drier note that keeps the brew from becoming too sloppy with the fruit aspects.
The triple IPA had similar characteristics, but is less juicy (but was labeled as an NEIPA). It’s also super sneaky as the alcohol (10.2) is hardly evident at all in the flavor. It also featured Vic Secret, a tasty Australian hop variety. Not sure what’s going on Down Under, but I have never met a hop from Australasia that I didn’t love. (My favorite is New Zealand’s Nelson Sauvin.)
The triple’s name is Casual Acquaintance, and I’d say that is an apt moniker: You should probably only hang around with this character occasionally as that alcohol will sneak up on you. It would be easy to quaff a few of these and get caught off-guard.
The regular (single?) IPA (named Fresh & Fierce) was labeled an NEIPA, but it definitely was one of the best I’ve had in that style. So maybe I have to back off a bit from my tirade a few weeks ago. (But there are still too many, proportionally, filling the shelves in stores.)
Anyway, this beer is lip-smacking good with mango notes drizzled with a lemon zest aspect.
All in all, an all-star showing. (And for real baseball fans, pitchers and catchers can start reporting this week.)
Cheers, and play ball!
February 15, 2021 at 09:11PM
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Beer Nut: White Lion’s IPAs part of winning lineup - MassLive.com
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