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Leatherlips IPA

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There are so many American IPAs in the market, and outside of trustworthy standards like Harpoon IPA and Sierra Nevada, few stand out. Those that do tend to be hot-hop-bomb Double IPAs whose sole intention is to destroy your palate and a few million brain cells.

However, back in early 2004, Dann Paquette, former head brewer of The Tap brewpub (at Haverhill Brewery), created something truly awesome: Leatherlips IPA, a highly drinkable IPA with a moderate alcohol content (5 percent ABV) and a tremendous amount of hop character.

Paquette eventually moved on to brew in England, but thankfully, Steve Bernard stepped in as head brewer and continued brewing our beloved Leatherlips. Bernard took things to the next level when Haverhill Brewery added a bottling line and distribution to their business; and soon after, he began bottling this hopped-up brew.

The Taste Leatherlips IPA (bottled) from The Tap / Haverhill BreweryOut of the

12-ounce brown bottle, Leatherlips pours a deep and vibrant golden color that offers up a beautiful clarity-prompting us to leave the sediment at the bottom of the bottle. A good two fingers of head pillow up from a hard pour. Soon after, the scent of hops permeates the nostrils. An old-school aroma of high alpha hops reveals this as an IPA before the first sip: pungent, citric and floral all over the place. Hints of lightly toasted grain in the nose as well. Its smooth mouthfeel and moderate body earn drinkability points. Mild biscuity malt, fruitiness and some yeast up front. This all gets wiped away by a wall of hops-first the sting of bitterness and then a long-lingering herbal and citric finish.

Final Thoughts Loaded with Centennial, Nugget and Chinook hops, Leatherlips IPA is without a doubt a hophead's fix, certainly one of those beers we'll frequently return to. Pair this with spicy food-the more heat the better. A bowl of chili is the obvious choice, but a hot pot of green curry and scallops over jasmine rice is even better.

Leatherlips IPA is available now in the Boston area for around $8 per six-pack, and it's always on tap or available to-go by the growler at The Tap. (By the way, the commuter rail to Haverhill drops you off literally across the street from the place.) And if you're lucky, you might even find Leatherlips on cask-like we did at Deep Ellum (477 Cambridge St., Allston).

For more info: tapbrewpub.com

Respect Beer.

[ Update: BeerAdvocate has learned that as of April 1, 2007, Steve Bernard is moving on. The Tap is currently looking for a new head brewer. ]
Reply to
beeradvocates
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You lost all credibility with that statement. No need to bother with the rest of the story.

Reply to
Blake S

That's the problem with these reviews in general. They read like they came from a marketing department.

Tom W

Reply to
Tom Wolper

That's all they are-- ads for a lame website.

Reply to
Joel

Hey. I'm a BA and I have a lot of fun on that website.

Reply to
Bill Becker

Yeah. Sierra Nevada's IPA (unless their CA is what is meant to be referred to above) is newish and not too well-known, and Harpoon's IPA hardly stands out (it tastes like a pale ale to me). Anchor Liberty would have been a better example -- though it's pretty tame compared to many of today's IPAs.

Reply to
Kyle

"Bill Becker" schreef in bericht news:1172018524 snipped-for-privacy@sp6iad.superfeed.net...

[snip]

Good for you, have fun. But this is spam, all the same.

Reply to
Joris Pattyn

In alt.beer Joel wrote: ...

Your just jealos giggy what have you done for beer today?

Reply to
sleurB kciN

Just don't say something the gestapo brothers (or wifey) don't like. They'll take their baseball, send you packing, and erase all evidence you ever existed there.

Reply to
Joel

I like having the best of both worlds. A nicely moderated website where the noise levels are held to a minimum and yeah, I've posted stuff that was deleted. I didn't think that it was such a big deal.. And then there's the wild west atmosphere of a Usenet group like this where everything goes. ;^)

Reply to
Bill Becker

Blake, I don't disagree with you. So, what available IPAs would you recommend?

I liked the Masala Mama and the Dogfish Head 60. Widmer Halo is not bad.

I enjoyed the Hopzilla by Bert Grant, but after Mr Grant died, evidently Greg Tranum F'd up the company.

Reply to
Justin Wilson

I haven't seen any of the Grant's beers in a few years. Are they still made?

Reply to
Kyle

On 2/22/2007 8:56 AM Kyle fell asleep at the keyboard, and awoke to find this:

No. There were supposedly plans to have them contract-brewed, but there's precious little evidence of that. The losers who took over Grant's should be sold into slavery for what they did to that once- proud pioneering craft brewery.

Reply to
dgs

I really don't know where to start......just off the top of my head I would say the following are exceptional:

Pelican IPA Stone IPA Alesmith IPA La Conner IPA Big Time IPA (Seattle) Bridgeport IPA Diamond Knot IPA Boundary Bay IPA Steelhead IPA (not the Mad River one) Roots IPA Bell's IPA (I think it's called "Two Hearted") Avery IPA He'Brew IPA Terminal Gravity IPA Dogfish Head 90 minute

The list goes on and on. To suggest that Sierra Nevada IPA and Harpoon stand out is ridiculous. They are both decent beers, however.

Reply to
Blake S

Oh yeah, Diamond Knot is my favorite IPA, next to Masala Mama.

Reply to
Justin Wilson

:>>>> There are so many American IPAs in the market, and outside of :>>>> trustworthy standards like Harpoon IPA and Sierra Nevada, few stand :>>>> out. :>>>

:>>> You lost all credibility with that statement. No need to bother with :>>> the :>>> rest of the story. :>>

:>>That's the problem with these reviews in general. They read like they came :>>from :>>a marketing department. :>

:> That's all they are-- ads for a lame website. : : Hey. I'm a BA and I have a lot of fun on that website. :

Likewise. BA goes way beyond being a virtual forum. I have met and gone drinking, pubcrawling, etc. with several BAs including both of the brothers who decided to host a BA pubcrawl as part of the Stone 10th anniversary weekend.

We had a great time.

The web site ain't perfect but if Tom thinks BA is lame then I can't help but wonder what he thinks of this group and why he's here. There is plenty of high quality content on BA that has been written over the years by individual members. And if you're planning a trip to unknown locales, Beerfly is a very good resource.

The one issue that came to light recently is that of "Beermail" being read by admins. I think that a lot of people just sort of assumed that "beermail" is like email -- private communication between individuals with that privacy respected by the site admins. It is apparently not so and this seems to have some folks pissed off. I've never used beermail for anything beyond the most trivial communication so I really don't have a problem with this personally -- I understand that they're doing this and it influences how I will use that feature in the future. (Can you say "What's your email addy?" -- I knew you could!) and makes me feel very good about how restrained I've been with it in the past when I was unaware of this behavior by the admins.

Reply to
Bill Benzel

To set the record straight, I'm not the one who called BA lame. I use Beerfly as a resource when I travel and I look up beers there when something new comes out on draft and the waitress has no idea who brews it or where the brewery is.

The articles/reviews that were posted here aren't like the reviews we post or get posted usually on BA. The usual reviews are personal impressions of a beer and its attributes. The reviews BA posted read like a marketing department's copy and gave no insight into any of the beers. That's what I objected to.

Tom W

Reply to
Tom Wolper

In rec.food.drink.beer Tom Wolper wrote: : Bill Benzel wrote: :> :> The web site ain't perfect but if Tom thinks BA is lame then I can't :> help but wonder what he thinks of this group and why he's here. : : To set the record straight, I'm not the one who called BA lame. I use Beerfly as : a resource when I travel and I look up beers there when something new comes out : on draft and the waitress has no idea who brews it or where the brewery is.

Sorry 'bout that -- I pulled the wrong name out of the damn cascade!! No offense meant.

: : The articles/reviews that were posted here aren't like the reviews we post or : get posted usually on BA. The usual reviews are personal impressions of a beer : and its attributes. The reviews BA posted read like a marketing department's : copy and gave no insight into any of the beers. That's what I objected to. : : Tom W

I don't get that either. The strange thing about those posts was that there is no .sig or URL pointing to BA at the end of any of them.

I can't help but wonder who posted them but

Reply to
Bill Benzel

I should have picked up on that. The Alstroms sign their posts and whoever posted those "reviews" didn't.

-Tom W

Reply to
Tom Wolper

I don't know who posted that set of reviews, but they were written by the Alstroms. The one for Leatherlips started with the link which goes to the copy of the review on the site and which was originally published in the Boston Dig, a weekly the Alstroms have a regular column in. The Leatherlips review is a typical example of their weekly column.

Mark

Reply to
Mark Irwin

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