#ipa's

Style: American Session IPA

4.7% ABV

42 IBU’s

From: Grand Rapids, Michigan

Brewer’s Note: “The beer you’ve been waiting for. Keeps your taste satisfied while keeping your senses sharp. An all-day IPA naturally brewed with a complex array of malts, grains and hops. Balanced for optimal aromatics and a clean finish. The perfect reward for an honest day’s work and the ultimate companion to celebrate life’s simple pleasures.”

This beer’s label is very quaint and homely.  It’s a picture of a family camping trip from our childhoods.  How can you not love an old station wagon packed up and ready for a good day of canoeing.  The fonts are a little boring, but are all uniform which is nice.  The label, though, seems a little smooshed and tight with a lot of ugly stuff on the sides of the label pressing in.  Overall, this label can be scrapbooked if you like, though it is definitely on the fringe of worthiness.  I would not put this bottle on the shelf.

The beer pours a beautiful clean golden color with a touch of orange.  The beer’s head is off-white and the bubbles are just above small in size with a fuzzy looking texture.  Carbonation looks quite lively within the beer, and the beer’s body is oddly lager clean with just a faint haze from the darker malt.  Lacing is light and patchy, leaving bubbles that are sticky and medium in size.  The lacing also gives off a fuzzy look, much like the head does.  On the nose, the beer smells of piney resinous hops with a healthy hit of citrus.  The malts are light and caramelly beneath the bitter hoppy aromatics, but this is a good healthy IPA smell.  The pine and citrus smells meld together beautifully, suggesting orange peel, slight lemon, grapefruit, and then good old pine tree.  On the tongue, the beer tastes sharp and bitter with a nice malty finish and a touch of wateriness on the back end.  The taste begins with a washing of mild bitters which build into grapefruit and slight bitter aspirin flavors, and stay on the tongue for awhile.  As the bitter flavors hit the finish with a lot of water flavors, the tongue is left with residual slightly toasted malt flavor and a fair lingering of bitters.  The beer also has a watery quality towards the middle of the sip, which suggests it 4.7% alcohol.  The wateriness is a little upsetting for me, and though this beer is nicely bitter and full of flavor for a below 5% beer, it carries a little more water flavor than other’s of its style.  On the mouth, the beer feels light and watery in body, while the carbonation is medium to prickly, leaving the tongue with a nice scrub.  The mouth is left damp in the cheeks with a little bitter dryness in the middle of the tongue.  Overall, this is a great all day beer with some nice bitter flavors.  It does exactly what the brewery set out to do, and for that I applaud them.  I like Levitation from Stone better though.  I understand that Levitation is technically an amber ale, but I consider it and All Day in the same style, and I think Stone was able to have less of that watery taste and body in the beer, which is an impressive feet for an under 5% beer.  This is a great beer to bring out an about, and a great one to quench your thirst, but there are better options in the style.  Still, try this beer out.