F-Town Ipalicious Review

Name: F-Town Ipalicious
Style: India Pale Ale
ABV: 6.5%
IBUs: N/A

Earlier this year, a sleepy little town about an hour south of Minneapolis & St. Paul by the name of Faribault, Minnesota opened up a brewery called the F-Town Beer Company. I recall hearing a couple years ago about plans to open a brewery there but under the name of Patriot's Brewing Company but I'm guessing the name got changed along the way and now we have F-Town.

Since the brewery opened up in July, I wasn't expecting the beer to be distributed in stores until much later due to possible capacity and the window in which the brewery has been open; Not to mention location. So imagine my shock when I was at the store last week and saw this beer on the store shelves

Which brings us to Ipalicious, which is their IPA offering. Like many Minnesota breweries, they too are opting for cans instead of bottles. The personified hop with horns on the can artwork is trying to do its best Two-Face impression....while being engulfed by flames.

Appearance - A very dark and hazy amber color that is almost brown in color. The dark color and sheer haziness makes it hard to determine if there is any visible carbonation but I do see some bubbles clinging to the sides of the glass. The head is about a finger in width with a very foamy appearance and the lacing is also very abundant and sticky.

Aroma - Strong piney hops & potent caramel malts followed by some bitter citrus notes and light yeastiness. I'm also getting some light roastiness in here as well but it's very dank smelling otherwise.

Taste - Not much change here from the nose but with a couple of exceptions. You've still got those strong dank piney hops but there's also a big caramel malt backbone here that almost completely overshadows the hop profile. You've got those bitter citrus rind and yeasts in the back. The other difference here is that the roastiness is a notch stronger than in the aroma. The aftertaste is a mix of light roastiness and strong bitter hoppiness.

I can tell what the brewery was trying to go for with the flavor along the lines of Dark Horse's own Crooked Tree (At least I think so) and, to be fair, they're somewhat successful at capturing that essence. I'd say if this had a bit more sweet citrus & a little less pine dankness, that this would be a perfect textbook example of a malty IPA. As for me, I like it and I'll happily drink it.

F-Town Ipalicious - 8/10