Kiss the Lips IPA - Lake Louie Brewing Company

First Lake Louie beer I've had the pleasure of reviewing. 2nd to last remaining beer from the BYO 6-pack from Old Fashioned!

Vitals:

Name: Kiss the Lips

Style: American IPA

IBU: ??

ABV: ??

Gravity: ??

Purchased at: The Old Fashioned (BYO 6-Pack)

As a quick note - I am completely weirded out when a beer doesn't even tell you its ABV, whether online, on the beer bottle, etc. Extremely odd and quite weaksauce, if I might say so myself. Lake Louie Fail.

Descriptions:

Appearance: This beer is very pretty looking when you pour it out into a glass - a lazy hazy orange coloring, with minimal bone-white head (decent retention of what is actually there). The lacing is some of the best I've ever seen...sticks around quite a while and isn't spotty or overly resin-ey. LOTS of carbonation bubbles hugging the glass has me very excited about this beer!

Smell: Piney hops come through on the smell neither too strong nor too weak, just right. Smells quite a bit more yeasty than most IPAs I've had. Lastly, a very good malt smell and a bit of grapefruit come through to give a nice sweet aroma.

Taste: This beer is overpoweringly biting and astringent from the get go, which greatly detracts from the actual taste. The piney hops are somewhat bitter, but mainly sour to be honest. You end up with a lingering malt flavor on your palate, and a bit of tart yeasty taste. Definitely not a huge winner here.

Mouthfeel: The body is extremely light for an IPA, lighter than most I've had. There is a lot of carbonation, as predicted from the appearance, which is not a bad thing here. The main points on the mouthfeel would have to be the astringent and oily qualities of the beer. I love the oily feel, but astringent makes me feel like I'm drinking red wine - NOT what I'm looking for in a delicious brew.

Overall Grade: C

Comments: This beer is a bit boring to me and, on the spectrum of hops - malts the beer is WAY geared towards the malt side. This creates an imbalance that doesn't sit well with a hop-head like me - I'd much prefer to err on the side of hops over malts. However, if you're into a malty beer and don't want a big slap in the face from some hops then give this one a try. It's definitely not for me, and is a bit deceitful with its IPA classification due to the malt concentration.

Cheers,

Hurls