Okay, I’ll admit it — tasting stouts and lagers during the past couple of weeks put me in withdrawal from my beloved India Pale Ale. IPAs are my weakness, and this week I succumbed to the hoppy brew once again and tried Lake Placid’s India Pale Ale.

Once I had accepted defeat and made the final decision to review another IPA, I did my research to make sure I would get the most out of the experience. I found a snifter glass in the back of my kitchen cabinet and made the choice to make this week’s beer experience as legitimate as I could.

I prepared some barbecue chicken with an ever-classy side of macaroni and cheese, and I poured half of the Lake Placid IPA into the snifter right before I took my first bite of the meal.

The Lake Placid IPA had all the trappings of an IPA, with its deep amber color and considerable amounts of foam. I took my first sip from the snobby glass and the elegant beer-tasting experience came to a halt.

The Lake Placid IPA tasted familiar and it was definitely nice to have the quintessential hoppy flavor of an IPA grace my taste buds, but honestly, it was pretty mediocre. I couldn’t make out a strong taste one way or the other.

There were no citrus or piney aromas and the hoppy bitterness I have come to love was overpowered by a foreign malty flavor. I couldn’t figure out what direction Lake Placid was trying to take with its India Pale Ale.

Maybe my expectations were too high because of the snifter glass or the pride I felt from cooking an actual meal for myself, but the Lake Placid IPA failed to impress.

The mediocre experience was a shame, especially considering I made myself vulnerable to the masses by folding over and reviewing another IPA so soon. I do feel kind of betrayed by the historically consistent India Pale Ale.

Published on February 13, 2014 at 12:48 am

Contact Tom: tsharkey@syr.edu