Goose Island IPA

This is one of those beers that for me stirs a memory. It was probably my first taste of a decent beer from the USA and one that changed my opinion of what is a great brewing nation, although I confess it took a while to fully indulge.

It was at a CAMRA beer festival in Stoke on Trent several years ago. We’d gone on a Saturday and sadly as so often seems to be the case most of the beers we’d gone for had long since been drunk. After several failed attempts to find something the wife would enjoy, we trundled upstairs to the foreign bottle bar. We spent a few hours there and in so doing got chatting to one of the volunteer staff, so at last orders I asked him for a recommendation.

He returned without hesitation with a bottle of Goose Island IPA and at looking at my clearly sceptical face, said that he’d refund the money if we didn’t like it. Obviously we did or I wouldn’t be writing this now and as we left he handed me another bottle, the last in the house and said “I hope you enjoy that too”. Lovely bloke.

We took that bottle home and cherished it, waiting (as you do) for the “right moment”, before finally cracking it one night after far too many bevvy’s and wasting it, I think I even fell asleep half way through my share..

Anyway a lot of beer has passed under the proverbial bridge since then and it’s still a favourite, although one only usually found on the web or specialist shops. That is until recently when I discovered that my local Tesco superstore stocks it.. 🙂

This really is a class act of a beer, it looks like it tastes and smells like it looks, liquid marmalade in a glass without the sweetness. Aroma is typically tropical fruit with a light toffee undercurrent, this continues on the tongue as it slips down beautifully. There is a definite hit of that bitter pithy marmalade I mentioned earlier, with a light malty sweetness all balanced perfectly by a big hit of citrus from the hops.

If you like me are sceptical about what American beer has to offer then this, like it was for me, is a perfect starter beer to really open your mind and heart. The added bonus is that it’s at a very reasonable price and available on the high street.

Just walk in and keep walking past the Budweiser, Miller and Blue Moon and get a proper tasty American beer.

Cheers