     Larry (Wachusett Brewing Company)
Larry is an Imperial IPA and is the first product of a partnership between Brookline, MA beer cafe extraordinaire Publick House and Wachusett Brewing Company in Westminster, MA. First things first, you are probably asking, who is Larry? This beer was named for Publick House employee Larry Melia, who "charmed the Wachusett staff during a visit to their brewery." Now the mystery has been solved! I've been hearing about this beer for awhile now. On Friday I got to try a sample and today I went out and bought a bottle to get the full experience. With New England Brewing coming out with Gandhi-Bot just recently and now Larry, its fixin' to be a pretty hoppy summer here in New England. From the Wachusett site: "The first beer of our Publick House Series, our limited edition 22 oz. celebration of frienship and beer." Here we go... Pour - orangish, reddish in color with a smooth matte sort of appearance. The head is about an inch of off-white batter-like foam. Very thick and dense. This is a great looking beer.
Aroma - big citrusy and piney hops. Some tropical fruit aromas as well as a bit of lemon grass. The fresh hop profile in the nose quite alluring (boy does that sound snobby). Seriously though, this has a great smell to it and it makes me want to dive in both figuratively and literally.
Taste - a big mouthful of grapefruity, citrusy, piney hops that leads to a sharp bite on the tongue. The backbone is not super sweet and the hops tend to stand out a LOT in this beer. Very refreshing on the palate, I have to keep reminding myself this was brewed here in Massachusetts and not Washington, Oregon or California. If you like a well-balanced yet BIG hoppy brew this one should satisfy.
Overall - by far the best brew I've had from the folks at Wachusett. Great job on this big IPA, it was excellent.
Would I buy more of it? - yep, for the price this is a great big IPA and its brewed pretty locally to me as well. Who says big bad Imperial IPAs have to come from the West Coast?
Note - The Publick House, it was called Anam Cara when I lived in Boston, is a beer lover's paradise in Brookline, Massachusetts. Definitely worth being part of any beer lover's agenda when in Boston.
Posted by Russ Labels: American IPAs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
