Profiled by Ken Carman
Lucky Bucket Brewing Company
La Vista, Nebraska
We had this on tap a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it. So how’s the bottled version?
Upon first sniff it’s Cascade, perhaps Chinook and very much American IPA to the nose. Grapefruit-like nose? Yes, but a bit more complex than that with malt sneaking in under the grapefruit: there enough for support… and a barely discernible hop mix other than the usual suspects I mentioned. Reminds me of Liberty Ale.
Pours with a nice, thick, pillow head… bit of a chill haze and a nice gold.
Mouthfeel is bitter yet not quite astringent, carbonation gives a firm backbone to a nice body.
Taste: not Liberty Ale. Obviously high alpha hops used early in the boil. Could use more, later, to add complexity to nose and taste. Note: the tap, as I remember it was more complex; better. This IPA didn’t translate as well into a bottled version. Expected, to a certain extent, but this was too much of a contrast. The hops wound up just bitter, the malt faded into little but the adequate support. 
Almost totally different beer.
Try it on tap, if you can. I don’t mean to dis the bottled version. Tis enjoyable, but can be so much more.
Now I’ll go back to dreaming of Lucky Bucket on tap. Could we also do a nitro push, or hand pulled?
Yum.