Dundee India Pale Ale

I have to say I was pretty suspicious about this new arrival nestled amongst the budding craft beer stocks at my local Woolworths.

It's an IPA, and from America to boot so ostensibly there should be good potential. From the start however there are doubts creeping in with the off-orange fanta-like colour and wobbly, obsequious head.


The nose too is of maybe pilsner malt, with a slight edge of american pale ale. A concurrent lack of hop herbals or bitterness means that any wild thoughts of enthusiasm you may have been cradling are now surely dwindling.

The wake continues mournfully as you take a sip, odd notes of maybe grape or sweet orange abound within the wishy washy mouth presence and there's really no bitterness to speak of. Odd dead metallic malting completes the dread procession.

Yeah. So vaguely unpleasant and in a sense, vaguely angering. I wasn't expecting brilliance here but I get the distinct impression that someone somewhere is taking the piss. If you want a good IPA, there are far better domestic options right next to it in the fridge. And hell even if you're gearing up for the fourth of July and want an American drop, you can easily pick up something from Sierra Nevada even at chain bottleshops. Avoid. 3.0

Lagunitas Hop Stoopid

Back to Lagunitas for a second effort at a hopped up pale.

First impression here is for a beer that proudly boasts a measured 102 IBU this is really rather tame. The nose is certainly hoppy, but it's more sweet orange and mandarin than violent bitter notes, and the taste follows this guide in delivering a gentler and sweeter experience than expected.

As such I found myself considering this more a standard IPA than a real hop bomb as such, and the sweetness became a little bit sickly after half a glass a bit like Mikkeller's Amarillo IPA. I couldn't see myself drinking more than one of these but for the opposite reason to that initially expected - it's a bit of a letdown in the bite department which is really quite surprising.

Looking at the reviews elsewhere it seems I'm in a bit of a minority here, but to me, people buying one of these sorts of beers ('hop' in the title, promising explosions) would probably prefer a less heavily malted, more unbalanced beer to this halfway effort. 7.0

Mikkeller American Dream

OK, another Mikkeller "lager" to try - and this time it comes with the dubious accolade of being the top rated lager on ratebeer to boot.

I have to admit on first tasting as per the photo above, this beer really failed to impress. Could be either a bad choice of glass, a less than top quality bottle, or just some sort of bad mood I guess (the beer obviously, not me). I got a less than impressive nose, mid malt and pepper, ever so slight passionfruit, and a bit of lingering, slightly earthy bitterness.

Tried a second time, this beer was a bit of a revelation, putting me in mind of a hybrid cross of wet hopped Little Creatures Pale Ale and Feral Hop Hog with a crisper finish. Both of which are great, but .. neither of which are lagers. So we arrive at the very same impasse. I don't think this is a lager, it's either a pale ale or an IPA in terms of style. It's tempting to think that by this logic, anything with a bit of hops or flavour to it will be automatically disqualified as a lager, thereby preventing anything with character from appearing.. but beers like Knappstein provide an exception to that rule.

So.. this is a nice beer and delivers a lot of flavour for its low %. And you should drink it, assuming you get a good bottle, and assuming you're not really after a lager per se. 7.5