RAN Craft Beer: IPA (China: IPA: 5.6% ABV)
Visual: Dark caramel brown. Thin off white to cream coloured bubbled head.
Nose: Creamy caramel and toffee. Light sulfur. Dried mango and kiwi. Dried apricot.
Body: Caramel. Sulphur. Creamy. Kiwi. Grapes. Kinda thin. Low bitterness and hop character. Dried apricot. Slightly muggy.
Finish: Caramel. Tart grapes. Apples. Kiwi. Sulphur. Some hop character. Slightly watery. Fudge. Cream. Dried apricot.
Conclusion: This is pretty disappointing as an IPA, to use a certain degree of understatement. There is some hop character, but it is kind of muggy with low present bitterness. So a bad start.
Part of the problem, I think, is that it doesn’t seem to know what kind of IPA it is aiming for. It has that light sulfur character that can come with a British real ale IPA – and here that feels like an off note out of its natural real ale habitat. It has the caramel sweetness of an east coast IPA but with a much thinner body so it doesn’t deliver it well, and without pushing the fruity notes as well as such an IPA tends to do. It feels too wet and lacking in hop bitterness for a west coast IPA and distinctly lacks the fruit punch and creaminess for a New England IPA.
So, instead of comparing it on and on to the other IPA variants it doesn’t match I ask – how does it do as a new take on the IPA on its own, is it any good?
Well, sub par shall we say, to be kind. Too watery, a few off notes, muggy bitterness and low clarity of fruit flavours. It has elements that could be improved to make a good beer, but pretty much everything needs pushing up a notch. More body, more hops, more flavor. As it is, it is one of the more disappointing IPAs I’ve had and one of the more disappointing beers of the China trip. Not the worst beer, I’ve had – especially considering some of the wet air pale lagers I have run into, but definitely more disappointing as this shows hints that could be made, with a lot of effort, into something decent,
A definite avoid.
Background: I genuinely can’t find shit on these guys online – I randomly wandered over their pub while walking around Yangshuo. So, erm, yeah it is a brewery I ran into and had a beer at. Went for IPA as it tends to be a good go to beer for an unknown brewery. That’s about all I can say really.
