Brooklyn East India Pale Ale Review

Well we are finally at the end of the Brooklyn Brewing Sampler Pack and I'll be finishing it off with a review of Brooklyn East India Pale Ale, an English India Pale Ale with a 6.9% ABV. It's supposedly based off of a recipe used by George Hodgson, a brewer who lived in England during the 19th Century, who would brew this ale and send it to British Troops who were stationed in India during the time of the British Raj. These beers would usually arrive in the city of Kolkata (Calcutta) in West Bengal, India

Since I just got done watching Kahanni, which is not only an excellent Indian movie but also is set in Kolkata, I feel it's only appropriate to take a look at this beer.

It pours a fairly clear orange color with a fairly large amount of carbonation. Head has a soapy look to it and the lacing it leaves behind is spotty.

The nose has a fairly strong caramelized malt scent to it, along some citrus hops, toffee and yeasts. It smells oddly familiar to my Sierra Madre Pale Ale homebrew I did, but my homebrew has a strong malt profile. The flavor is more balanced out with citrus hops, caramel, malts and yeasts. The aftertaste is a bittersweet piney hop finish.

The body overall is pretty light, crisp and easy to drink. Being that this is an English IPA, it fits in rather well when you consider the sum of it's parts.

This is a straight up English IPA just by how it smells and tastes. The aroma may come off as a bit malty but the flavor is very well rounded and balanced when compared to the former. I think Brooklyn Brewery did a good job with this one and I would recommend trying this out.

Brooklyn East India Pale Ale - 8/10