Revolution Fist City Review

Name: Revolution Fist City
Style: American Pale Ale
ABV: 5.5
IBUs: 40

Next beer in my Chicago beer mail comes from Revolution Brewing, a brewery which I have heard of before and recall having one of their beers at Cheesie's a couple years back. As to which beer it was, I do not know since I had not yet discovered the awesomeness that is Untappd.

For this review, I've got their weirdly named Fist City, which is an American Pale Ale. I'm guessing the name is to keep in line with their anarchy image and since a fist is used in a lot of their beer can artwork, I guess it makes sense. Or they could be fans of Loretta Lynn, who happens to have a chart topping song called Fist City (Yes that's true, Google it if you don't believe me.) Still though, I'm not sure if that would've been my first choice of a name but who am I to judge?

Appearance - Fairly hazy dark yellow color with a moderate amount of visible carbonation. The head is pretty foamy and has some decent retention for the most part and the lacing is pretty good as well with a medium amount left behind.

Aroma - Citrus & grapefruit notes with a slight hint of pineiness mixed in with a light toffee malt scent. For an APA, it smells surprisingly sweet.

Taste - Citrus hops with some light floral hoppiness that are almost herb-like in quality. I am getting a slight resin kick on the front of the tongue too. The latter half of the flavor is where I am starting to pick up on some yeastiness & that somewhat heavy toffee malt backbone; Although I am getting some stronger bitter hoppiness in the back as well.

I'm having a hard time deciding if I want to call this an IPA or an APA. On one hand, it doesn't quite have that hop-omph that IPAs possess but at the same time, it doesn't quite have that strong yeasty/malty flavor element to make it an APA. Either way you look at it, you're getting a great beer and one that's worth check out.

Revolution Fist City - 8.5/10