Wild Goose India Pale Ale: Go ahead and shoot this turkey.
Written: Sep 17 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: bitter
Cons: wang
The Bottom Line: Strange wang and bitter.
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| roymeo's Full Review: Wild Goose India Pale Ale |
Because even the most wishy-washy, I-Just-Wanna-Be-Nice, terminally uncritical rater would have a very hard time giving the bars at the right even a Somewhat Helpful rating for usefulness in this category:
Weight: 3 - Light Body
Flavor: 3 - Balanced
Complexity: 3 - Average
(OK, even with the translation, it doesn't give much meaningful information.)
I first had this beer on draft at my first Resident's concert, but I didn't notice then that it was weird. But I suppose just as you match your beer with food, you match your beer with entertainment experiences, and the weirdness of the beer didn't stand a chance against the weirdness that is the Residents musical assault. The first time I started writing this review, the beer had such a strange wang to it that I double checked and realized that the beer was about 9 months past the 'best before' date on the bottle. Now, how does a fresh bottle of this beer do, with that wild roller coaster of history behind it?
Head
Average head, touch of yellow to the color of the white foam.
Color
Golden and clear. Clover honey is a pretty good approximation.
Aroma
Lightly hopped, at least in the aroma department, but the aroma that is there is a nice crisp green hoppy aroma. Cascade hops, I'll wager (a tiny wager). A touch of sweet malt in the aroma, as well.
Flavor, Body, Finish
Well, this is still a strange tasting beer. The malt is very acidic, leading to a weak citric-sour initially. The body is medium, and the swallow has a lot happening at once: sourness, strong grapefruit, big hop bitterness, caramel malty sweetness. The sweet-sour-citric-bitter wang on this is quite strange. I want to say it doesn't taste like grapefruit, as much as tastes like grapefruit smells. Or the idea of a grapefruit smell.
The first time I tried to write my review, I got about here and wondered if I was coming down with a cold or something. Sure it was about a year old and cloudy, but really this beer is more weird that I can believe.
Aftertaste
Did I just chew on a lime rind? Long, long bitter aftertaste. The bitterness is certainly a surprise, compared to the amount of flavor and aroma hops. The bitterness starts to get into inner tube chewing land, but not quite.
Warm
That sweet-sour wang continues to grow, the body falls apart and becomes more watery. Falls apart, over cellar temperature.
Propaganda
www.wildgoosebeer.com hasn't been up, so I can't tell you anything about their website.
Wild Goose™ India Pale Ale (I.P.A.) is an English-style ale whose roots go back to the British Empire. I.P.A.s were brewed for transport to the troops stationed in India. The beer was made extra strong in both alcohol and in hops, because these both have antibacterial effects. When the beer arrived in India, it was watered down to standard rations strength. Of course some lucky officers were stationed aboard those ships...
Conclusion
I think I'll stick to drinking Wild Goose IPA only when the Resident's are around. The bitterness just doesn't match the rest of the beer, and the strange wang it has probably doesn't belong in beer at all.
Quick Stats
Original Gravity: -?-
Final Gravity: -?-
Alcohol by Volume: 5.5%
Color (Lovibond): -?-
Bittering Units: -?-
Malts: -?-
Bittering Hops: -?-
Flavor Hops: -?-
Aroma Hops: -?-
Bottles: Crown capped.
Expiration date: Yes
Now, what about when you're drinking a beer with a label that reads Freshest if served by: Nov 16, 2000 and you're drinking it on 8/29/2001? Well, in that case, this beer will probably taste something like this:
This beer is the strangest thing calling itself an IPA that I've had in long time.
Head
Light and light colored. The carbonation appears to be on the light side, period.
Color
Honey golden with a touch of amber. Cloudy.
Aroma
A light aroma, sweet with a touch of greenish hops.
Flavor, Body, Finish
Almost no initial taste, perhaps a touch of sweet malt and citrus. The body is medium, perhaps a touch heavy for an IPA. The swallow has a strong lemon character immediately overpowered by a weird grainy-malty charge. Then we go sour.
Aftertaste
Ick. There has got te be something wrong with this beer.
Warm
Down the drain.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
roymeo
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Location: SF, CA
Reviews written: 79
Trusted by: 105 members
About Me:
pseudo-intellectual altie-poser taken to self-deprecation
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