There is a (relatively) new brewery calling Kamloops its home now going by the name of Iron Road Brewing. Much of their staff left Main Street Brewing on good terms to start a venture of their own. The result is that they are bringing another option to Kamloops, and their beers are starting to garner some serious attention.

B.C. Beer Reviews: Iron Road Brewing – Double IPA

Kamloops has, since last summer, found itself with another brewery in town. Iron Road Brewing opened up in August of last year, and since then has been making some noise with some straightforward, yet very tasty, beers.

Their Double IPA has some good reviews, so let’s take a look at what they have made here.

Colour

There is a bright golden-yellow colour to this beer. It is very bright, and it honestly has a very appealing colour to it. However, it does not match the generally deep amber hue you would normally expect from the style. None the less, it is a good indication of what is to come.

Nose/Aroma

There are juicy citrus fruit aromas coming very strongly from this beer, and you catch them almost immediately after cracking open the bottle. It is super tropical in the fruit notes, making for a very appealing aroma. This is one of the strongest, if not the strongest, notes you get from this beer.

The other note you get from this one is a slightly yeasty aroma. It is fairly noticeable, but not in a bad way. It is not an off aroma, but more just a noticeable characteristic of yeast. This is certainly not a common note to get from the style, but once again, this is not something that is necessarily bad.

There are also some lightly dank notes on the back end of the aroma. It finishes off with a wallop of hop character. Helps to finish the nose/aroma of this beer off in the right way, and a very tasty way at that.

Tasting Notes

This is where the beer really starts to shine. The tropical and citrus fruit notes really start to come out in the tasting notes. A seriously delicious array of fruit notes that are reminiscent of guava and pineapple.

Aside from the tropical and fruity notes, this beer has a fairly significant body to it. There is a light sweetness that you would generally expect from the malt/grain bill, but it is very much in the background of this beer.

The finish packs a light amount of dank and resinous notes. Just like in the nose/aroma, it finishes off relatively spot on with the style, making this a super hop-forward and tasty beer. The tropical notes on the front end are a nice counterbalance to the more resinous notes on the back end.

Other Notes

The branding/labeling is the textbook definition of simple. A black shadow of what looks to be a mountain range covers the bottom half with the top half of that label being white. Iron Road Brewing is immediately over the black bottom half, front and centre. Simple and straightforward.

The head that this beer pours is nothing short of massive. It has some seriously impressive retention to that massive head as well. With such a hop-forward beer that has a fairly significant body, this is a less than surprising observation.

On top of the head being significant, the lacing is as well. Massive patches of what used to be the head of the beer form into lacing, almost completely covering every inch of the glass.

The carbonation level is above average as well. There are a decent amount of cascading bubbles in the somewhat clear beer. Adds a slightly crisp finish to this beer.

Final Grade

Tropical and citrus fruits are the main player in this beer. They dominate the nose/aroma, and they are present strongly on the front end of the tasting notes. The slightly dank notes in both the nose/aroma and the tasting notes is a nice touch.

Grade: 7.8/10

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Main photo by Nic Hendrickson, Lastword Inc., all rights reserved