Seconds from disaster

A bottle of Pipa IPA came my way with thanks to Myles and his holiday in Portugal. It's from Pato brewery in Sintra, north-west of Lisbon and is, as the name hints, an IPA. The official description says it's in the English style. The ABV is 5% and I'm guessing it's bottle conditioned as it frothed everywhere on opening. Not the way to get on my good side.

Once eventually forced into a glass it presented as a murky dun orange colour, keeping a loose-bubbled head after the dome of suds subsided. Clean it ain't: I got a mild whiff of vinegar on the nose and the flavour is quite dreggy, full of savoury yeast. It's probably for the best I opened it when I did as I reckon the biochemical processes going on in the bottle were not of the sort that improves an IPA.

Looking past the flaws for the beer it's meant to be, a sweet treacle-on-bread malt is the main feature, only bittered slightly by jaffa and lemon hops. There's a classically English metallic tang and a fun Burtonish sulphurous spicing. It manages to taste raw and wholesome, nutritious and unrefined, and that's at least in part due to the big chewy texture.

While definitely a bit amateurish in the execution there's a decent beer at the heart of this, and a potential eye-opener, I'm sure, for any hardened Sagres bibber.