Latitude 48 IPA

Born in Boston, Mass, Latitude 48 IPA is a child of the Boston Beer Company, a member of the Samuel Adams Hopology Collection.  L48 is sold in 355mL bottles that looks to have a map of Washington State on the label. It contains a respectable 6% alcohol. It's a very clear India pale ale that boasts a handsome copper colour and pours 'neath a thick, almost tan head.

Latitude 48 has a lemony aroma with some caramel notes. Flavour-wise, it has some caramel structure, but the beer is primarily driven by a hop engine. It has very strong notes of citrus rind, particularly lemon.

For a large-scale brewer, the Boston Beer Company has delivered a pretty nicely constructed IPA. It's neither as bitter nor as strong as many small batch India pales, which gives these suds some wider appeal, but it has enough interesting flavour notes to appeal to more discerning beer fans. Some thought clearly went into this stuff. I like the lemon zest, though more emphasis on the front end flavours would have been nice and a bit more unapologetic hopping would have suited me fine. This is a pretty agreeable brew--one I'd be glad to try again.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.