Style: English India Pale Ale
Format: 500ml can
ABV: 5.0% IBU: N/A
Date tasted: 27 Mar 2021

Final Rating: 40/50

• Appearance: 4/5
• Aroma: 8/10
• Taste: 16/20
• Mouthfeel: 5/5
• Overall: 7/10

Overview

It’s been warming up in my neck of the woods, and being a west-facing condo dweller when the heat exchanger for the building hasn’t been online yet means near unbearable temperatures inside at the peak of afternoon heating, even with open windows and a fan. It’s about 27.5 degrees Celsius in here at the moment (~81.5F for my Imperial friends) and I could use a drink. Something with a strong, refreshing profile, like an IPA would hit the spot…and luckily I have an IPA in the fridge that will hopefully hit the spot.

I’ve never heard of Eagle Brewing, but it cleams to be “crafted in the heart of England”, and it does indeed say it was bottled at Bedford, UK. Oddly, despite being an IPA, I can find no information on its IBU anywhere, so I guess it’ll have to be a surprise. Either way, I’m hoping to be refreshed and pleased.

Appearance

The can is a bright red with an interesting wireframe-esque logo and fairly straightforward branding, which I don’t mind at all: simple can be appealing, especially as I get older and appreciate minimalism more and more. It pours with a good head – in fact I was unable to fit it all on my glass thanks to the amount of foam that gathered – though it dissipated fairly quickly. The colour is very interesting as well. If I had been handed this glass and asked to guess the style, I would’ve guessed Amber or Red as it’s color is far darker and redder then I’d expect from even a double IPA. It’s definitely in the deep amber or amber brown area of the colour spectrum. That’s intriguing and, as a fan or Ambers, Reds and Browns, earns it an extra point or so from me.

Unfortunately it does then immediately lose them for having little carbonation visible. Perhaps my glass is cleaner than normal and there’s nothing for bubbles to form around. It does seem odd it had such a foamy head to begin with but little to show in the way of bubbles. Perhaps it was the pour and that’s why the head disappeared so quickly, though I have been pouring beer for a long time now and consider my technique to be very consistent.

Aroma

Toasted barley and hops right off the bat, with a faint hint of honey in the background. It basically smells like fresh, warm bread covered in honey butter like you might get at a decent steak house before your meal. At least that’s the memories I’m getting from it. Not a strong smell though, it’s all a little subdued.

Taste

Compared to most English IPAs I’ve had it’s fairly hoppy, though it pales compared to some of the microbrews I’ve had over the past year. I’d guess it’s probably around 55-60 IBU, give or take. The hops really comes through at the start before giving way to a more grassy taste by the aftertaste. There are notes of caramel and honey hiding in there, though faintly and a non-specific fruit character to its sweetness. It feels like a nice balance. I tend to like that piney bitterness you get in an American IPA, so the English IPAs do tend to feel a bit underwhelming to me, but for it’s category it’s a very nice example.

Mouthfeel

The head implied strong carbonation, though the amount of bubbles in the body implied little. On the tongue though, there’s a nice tingle implying its probably a touch above average. It’s got a smooth, crisp feeling and the dry bitterness in the aftertaste gives a very refreshing feeling. Nicely rounded with no unpleasantness anywhere.

Overall

Above average. It’s easy drinking and crisp, and the dryness compliments the rest of the ale nicely. I take some points off for being a little weaker and a little less bitter than I would like, but then added one back for the great and unexpected colour and nice aftertaste which made the experience a little more interesting and pleasant than it otherwise might have been.

References:

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