Featured Review

Tonight I will be reviewing Breckenridge Brewing Company's Lucky U IPA. I am calling this review a feature review, because it will be posted as a guest review on a fellow beer guy's blog, mdwalsh, The Beer Guy.

First, a little bit about the brew. I picked thin one up here in Fargo/Moorhead, so it should be pretty easy to obtain throughout Minnesota. I hadn't seen this beer or heard anything about it, so I picked up a single to give it a test run before I commit to a 6er. This IPA is made with 7 types of hops: Amarillo, Magnum, Perle, Cascade, Apollo, Fuggle, Goldings. Time to dive in.

I poured this into a standard pint glass, nothing to fancy tonight. It pours about a finger of khaki colored off white head. The head fades down to a thinner layer and as I drink, it leaves tremendous lacing on the glass. I enjoy it when a beer leaves lots of lacing, as it makes it look way more appealing. The color is a clear dark orange hued copper. It is a little darker than most IPAs.

Aroma: The aroma of this beer starts out a little muted, not much in the nose. I let it warm up a tad so I can get some more flavor out of it. Now that it is warmer, I get some floral hops with caramel malts balancing the aroma. Then, a nice citrus burst is evident. For an IPA, this beer is fairly balanced on the nose.

Taste: The floral hops jump right out at you quick, but it is immediately followed by caramel and bready malts. This isn't your typical 'in your face' IPA. This is a more balanced IPA. After the initial flavor, I get a lot of citrus blend going on, mainly some lemon and grapefruit flavors.

Mouthfeel: Bitter, but balanced. It is a little crisp, because it has a decent amount of carbonation. The body is medium sized. Lucky U ends with a sticky aftertaste, which is typical for an IPA.

Overall, if you are not into super hoppy beers yet, but you want to work your way into them, then this would be a good place to start. It has a decent amount of hops, but it is balanced out a lot with all of the malts. I personally like my IPAs to be hoppier and less malty, but the brewer's went a different route with this. I am glad I got to try this one, as it was a change from most mainstream IPAs.