So this is my first guest post to A Good Beer Blog from here in Central New York. With Syracuse University basketball in full effect and the football season a long way away - thank God - we in Central New York are hunkering down for another white winter.
For this post I decided to write about Landmark Beer Company's new India Pale Ale. At my last brew club meeting, the Christmas Party at Empire Brewing Company, Landmark's co-owner Kiernan brought a whole case of his new IPA to the meeting for everyone to take home and try. Looking at his blog, I noted that he was having this brewed at the Flying Byson Brewery and was distributing the beer all over the region. In my opinion, the flagship beer for Landmark is the Vanilla Brown Ale, reviewed by Alan earlier this year. This is a great example of a beer that uses a flavor adjunct with solid balance. Though I was not able to verify it, I was told the Kiernan hand picked the vanilla beans that were used in that brew.
With the IPA, I was very pleased with what I found. In the nose, this is an IPA that has a very different aroma, On my first experience I picked up a very roasty, Carmel and sweet smell, compared to many IPA's where you are punched in the nose with hops. According to the description:
Our IPA is an American IPA busting with hop flavor and aroma. It is brewed using Columbus, Centennial and Cascade hops to give it its distinctive flavor and aroma.I am very familiar with the Centennial and Cascade hops, but have not used Columbus all that much. Perhaps I was picking up some of the Columbus in the nose. Either way, I was really pleased with the smell I was getting.
On the color, this was a deep gold with great clarity. A moderate to dark version of an American IPA. The head was thick in an off white color. This beer poured with a light lacing and short head retention. The flavor was similar to the smell with the sweet malty flavor on one half of the experience and on the other was the more familiar hops experience. I think in this second half of the taste I was picking up the Centennial and Cascade. This beer finishes bitter, but does not linger. Plenty of BAer support, too.
Overall I would recommend giving this a try. It's a unique approach at a popular style. I would say that for the most part, this is not a textbook example of an IPA - I would say this is more of an English IPA - but it instead it's a welcomed variation of the style that has a great malty, sweet flavor.
