A test of taste
Ok, so. More often than not I don’t like India pale ales, but my problem is with the execution rather than the idea. There’s just no sense of finesse in the average IPA, and the result ends up tasting like someone took a box of granola cereal, some pine cones and a pint of vodka, blended it all up and bottled it into a six-pack. These beers make me wonder what I did to wrong the brewer, whether perhaps I gave him bad directions one time, or stepped on his shoes. I am very sorry, wronged IPA brewer. I do not enjoy these violent ales.
On the other hand, there’s Samuel Smith, a beacon of hope. For one, the Tadcaster brewery was actually around in the 19th century when all of this Indian trade was going on, so there’s a chance that maybe someone wrote down how an IPA is supposed to taste, informing today’s brewers with actual tradition instead of leaving them to fumble around with tripling whatever goes into a regular pale ale. And I’ve yet to drink anything from Samuel Smith that I haven’t liked. They make a couple of beers that I think are fantastic, and a few others that I think are pretty nice. This beer is a test. If I don’t enjoy this interpretation of the India pale ale, I think I should just admit that I don’t care for the style and give up on it.
There a few hopeful points right from the start. This IPA is a surprisingly reasonable 5% ABV, so from that it looks like the focus is going to be on the selection of hops and not on feats of strength. The paragraph on the bottle explaining the style mentions an emphasis on “the aroma and flavour of Britain’s best hop gardens,” and the importer describes it as having “a restrained maltiness.” I am optimistic. Today is hot and damp, so it seems as good a time as any to enjoy a British export long ago intended for the sweltering jungles of the East.
The smell is more floral than anything. There’s a bit of a bitter piney odor, and a bit of a malty sweetness, but nothing comes out as a big punch in the face. The taste does have a lot of hops, but it’s interesting hops, not just a big blast of pine tar cascade. It’s bitter, but not too bitter. It’s also flowery and fruity. There’s a bit of a caramel sweetness and a peppery tickle. It feels light and leaves behind a kind of sweet, grassy taste. This is a really enjoyable, really drinkable beer. It’s a shame that it’s so damned expensive.