Soup IPA
Soup IPA - 6% ABV
Garage Beer Co. (Barcelona, Spain)
IPA
Soup IPA is one of the six beers I brought back from my recent trip to Barcelona, and the first of those beers to be featured on my blog.
I didn't have the chance to try this in the taproom of Garage Beer Co., but my brother had it, seemed to enjoy it, and I figured it was worth a shot.
This beer pours a cloudy golden yellow with a few floaters. It was canned on December 5, purchased the next week and now being enjoyed on January 7. It poured from a 16-oz can with the perfect amount of head, with a little bit of lacing on the glass as the suds dissipated.
(Side note: At first, I thought it was canned back in May and for some reason still available in the taproom, and then I remembered that dates are written day-month-year over in Europe. So, thank goodness that this beer isn't actually eight months old.)
This beer smells amazing. The nose is tropical, with hints of lemon and grapefruit, and a little sweet. The first sip, though, is disappointing. I hate to say it, but it's a little watery and leaves a bit of a metallic bite on the back of your tongue.
Thankfully the next, bigger sip is a little better, coming through with a mild hoppiness and a light, tropical fruit flavor. It's better, but still tastes like a dressed down IPA. Less body than an American version and less flavorful. The mouthfeel is not quite creamy, but it reminds me more of a New England/ hazy IPA than an American IPA.
The best way to describe it is you have to gulp this beer to get the flavors. If you've filled your mouth with it, you'll get the sequence of fruit, then smoothness, then bitterness. It doesn't taste how it smells, though. The flavor doesn't linger for long, though.
My husband tried this beer and said "It's like you tasted a grapefruit rind. It smells really good, but tastes weird and rind-y."
Ultimately, this beer was disappointing and made me wish I had tried it in the taproom. I had some really hop-forward IPAs in Barcelona, although the flavors of beers weren't always what I expected. I have to wonder if this beer was affected by the plane ride, or the fact that it was hanging out in the fridge for about a month. Not super sure, but it's alright. I've still got five others to try.
Overall rating: 3/5