Beer Review: Shock Top IPA

Very rarely will you hear me say I don't like a type of beer.  Indian Pale Ales are something of an anomaly for me.  It is not that I don't like them per say, I have grown to appreciate them where as before in my younger days (you know that age, when you were strictly a Miller Lite/Coors Light kinda person) I didn't even know what the hell I.P.A. stood for.  For that matter didn't even know it existed.  Snobby beer drinkers talk about the category of the I.P.A as though it is some Holy Grail of beer, one that should consistently take up residence in your fridge.  If it does not, then you my friend know NOTHING about beer, and your taste is right on par with some sub-species of slug, known as blithering idiot.  It's true snobby snobsters! don't deny it!  Anyway I guess I have this blog to thank, for I am not so sure I would have even looked at Shock Top's Wheat Indian Pale Ale, if I weren't into talking about beers on here.

With the intro now deftly out of the way let's take a walk down the gullet and check out this I.P.A. from Shock Top.  Initial pour on this beer into a glass releases a strong wheat grain smell ripping up through the empty space and crashing into your nose.  A second breath in, and I noticed a little bit of cinnamon trailing after that wheat smell, pleasantly sweetening the sniffer.  The pour produced a light frothy head to contrast the brunette body, with the head giving a good lacing on the glass.

The first taste produced a plethora of flavors, all swimming together as one, making it hard to distinguish any note of flavor that really stood out.  But much like the smell the second swig brought out the layers as definable as anyone could hope for.  As with most I.P.A.'s the hops showed up to the party, and stayed the WHOLE time.  Oddly enough though adding to a slightly peppery and bitter aftertaste, the hops weren't over powering.  They lent themselves heavily, and helped this beer finish clean and dry with a bite, but didn't soak up spit like a salteen.  The other layers moving through the beer were wheat and yeast, and surprisingly orange and what I can only describe as coriander with a small bit of cloves for good measure.  All in all a damn good beer despite my prejudice against it.

Shock Top did  a great job in bringing the classic notes and vibes to an I.P.A. without losing itself in the process, adding a little here, taking a little there, they make this brew one to definitely give a chance.

"The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind." - Humphrey Bogart