Can and glass image courtesy thebrewsite.com
Profiled by Ken Carman
With a burnished copper color, great clarity, and long lasting satin pillow head, Caldera’s IPA starts out strong. A nice strong Cascade-like whiff (Centennial, perhaps? Simcoe? Perhaps Amarillo, but most likely the Centennial, or all three combines to do a super Cascade sense.) …meets the nose when you pop the… can. Yes, one of these new craft canners: a great trend. Hey, works in kegs and cornies as long as the lining keeps the beer away from the metallic taste.
Foam and bubble fill the mouth with just the right amount of hop astringency. This is a bit high, bitter-wise, for a tradition IPA; even American, but I like it. Not a Imperial or Double. Malt is a bit thin but adequate: background. Not getting anything but that super Cascade sense one might get when three citrusy hops only add similarities: not the differences. Might be nice to back off a bit and add a bit of complexity with another, perhaps more spicy hop. After taste a bit too astringent.
A strong entry; one of the better examples, except the astringency which might be solved in the hop mix, and perhaps some latter additions hop rather than earlier. That might help with the one note citrus/bitter this three hop beer toots.
The packaging helps too: nice colorful, interesting, cauldron midst somewhat hippie like colors. “IPA” forms from the steam out of the kettle and the hippie colors inside the oval are surrounded by hops. I usually don’t comment about such but, sometimes, creativity with creative packaging does count.