This beer came as one of the “new” styles in this year’s Samuel Adams spring mixed pack, and I have to admit that I didn’t look closely enough at the bottle before opening, because I was expecting a standard American IPA. At first taste however, what I got was a super light-bodied wildly west-coast style beer that the Boston Beer company actually calls an “IPL” (India Pale Lager.) I have to say that I love this concept, and the execution is excellent. The heavy grapefruit and pine of west coast hops matches beautifully with the well carbonated light body lager. It’s not a big beer at 5%, and the signature IPA bitterness, while there, is tempered, leaving a fantastically tasty and refreshing beverage that could easily be my go-to game day beer.

I give it a 4.5 out of 5.