Judge's Review: 84 Rating - Captain Kidd V2.5 by Oyster Bay Brewing Co.

Captain Kidd IPA is your standard, and ever-so-popular American IPA, which is category 21a in the BJCP guidelines. If you are not all that familiar with the style, according to the BJCP guidelines we are expecting this to be “a decidedly hoppy and bitter, moderately strong American pale ale, showcasing modern American or New World hop varieties. The balance is hop forward, with a clean fermentation profile, dryish finish, and clean, supporting malt allowing a creative range of hop character to shine through.” Do not always expect your old-school traditional citrus and pine anymore, as IPAs can have melon, tropical fruit notes, and much more with today’s modern hop varieties.

When I first smell the beer I am greeted with the aroma of onions, which most decidedly will be from the hop choice or blend of hops. Behind the onion, I pick up some tropical fruits on the back end, but the combination is odd to me and doesn't quite work. The hop presence is most certainly in the IPA range, as the hop aroma is quite prominent. The malt aroma is low and bready, almost with an English IPA sort of appeal, which I really like. I like the malt in this beer a lot more than hops. The appearance is gold in color and fairly hazy, which is typical if the IPA is dry hopped. The head was off-white, frothy, and long-lasting. It’s a great-looking American IPA.

When it comes to flavor, the beer itself is quite good. It is well balanced between the solid hop bitterness, and the softer supporting malt profile. The flavor of the malt is quite nice. I get a bit of biscuit, a very low toasty note, and some sweet bread. The hop flavor is moderate, with a bit more of that garlic and onion note, and some solid pineapple behind it. To me, the beer is coming across almost savory because of the combination. Still it’s pretty good and not bad at all. The finish is decidedly hoppy and thankfully the pineapple seems to dominate more in the finish.

The mouthfeel is medium-bodied and fairly creamy, which is nice. There is no hop astringency or anything like that. I do pick up a bit of alcohol warmth on the back of my throat, which suggests the beer is most likely over 6%, which we expect in this style. All in all, it’s worth a try because even though I didn’t particularly enjoy it. My friend who served it to me did. So it could just be a matter of how the hops hit your palate.