Beer Review – Founders Centennial IPA

While on my way home from a meeting with a life insurance agent last Wednesday night (they really should call it Death Insurance, but I guess that wouldn’t attract too many customers), I made a stop at WineWorks in Marlton, NJ to see if they had any interesting beers in stock (talking about my eventual demise left me a bit parched).

Since I still have a few big bottles left from my Maine vacation, I decided to pick up a mixed six of twelve ounce bottles so that I’d have some interesting beers to sample and review over the next couple weeks. The Founders Centennial IPA was part of this mixed six pack.

Here is what Founders has to say about this beer:

Get ready to bask in the glory of the frothy head’s floral bouquet. Relish the citrus accents from the abundance of dry-hopping. This one’s sweet, yet balanced. Malty undertones shake hands with the hop character for a finish that never turns too bitter.

And now for the review…

• Appearance: Hazy copper color. Tons of clear, fast rising bubbles. Fluffy quarter inch head that dissipates slowly. Lots of sticky lacing.
• Aroma: Light brown sugar sweetness. Grapefruit zest. Piney hops.
• Taste: Smooth and creamy mouthfeel. Very good carbonation (as if you couldn’t tell from the photo). Mildly sweet malt at the onset. Tart citrus flavors (think white grapefruit) at mid-palate. Hop bitterness builds and leads you to a  piney and slightly astringent finish. Pleasing bitter aftertaste with just a hint of sweetness lurking in the background.
• ABV: 7.2%

This is the second time that I’m having the Founders Centennial IPA. Since I really liked it the first time around, I just had to pick up another when I saw it on the shelf during last week’s impromptu beer run. Thankfully, this beer did not disappoint me the second time around. Although I didn’t find this IPA to be as well balanced as other IPAs that I’ve recently had (Cigar City’s Jai Alai and the Firestone Walker Union Jack immediately come to mind), it isn’t too far behind. I was particularly impressed with how well it hides it’s relatively high ABV. This is a smooth and dangerously easy drinking IPA. Overall, I really enjoyed this beer and would definitely buy it again. I’m very curious to try it on draught.