Beer Review: Life Sentence (Tattered Flag)
Getting Hitched… Tying the Knot… A Life Sentence…
So many different terms and words and ways to describe getting married. Justin, the head brewer for Tattered Flag wanted to celebrate his nuptials just like anybody else, so he brewed up this New England IPA to commemorate the grand occasion.
This fine beer was released on October 21st, a day ahead of Justin’s wedding (October 22nd). I got to try it a week ago at their Halloween Party the night of (what was supposed to be) the Hummelstown Halloween Parade.
Tattered Flag’s Can Releases
Most Fridays (not all, but a lot) Tattered Flag does releases, and they have several locations you can pick their beers up from, or even get them sent to you in the mail through their Supply Drop. They currently have five easily accessible locations in the Central PA area in various places (Middletown, Dauphin County; Penn National Hollywood Casino, Grantville, Dauphin County; Gettysburg Pennslvania, and Lancaster City in Lancaster County in Pennsylvania).
The Review
Beer: Life Sentence
Brewery: Tattered Flag
Style: IPA – Imperial / Double New England / Hazy
ABV: 8.7%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Hazy Double IPA hopped with Citra Incognito and intensely dry hopped with Citra, Galaxy, and Sabro cryo for aromas of cantaloupe, citrus, over ripe peach, and papaya combined with vibrant flavors of grapefruit, oaky citrus, peach sorbet, and strawberry candies
Ok, bear with me here, but its been a bit of a while since I’ve done a beer review (glad to be getting back into the swing of doing them). So, just like my old reviews did – I’ll continue the trend – aroma, followed by appearance, and then finish my review with the taste descriptions and any conclusion and final thoughts I want to express. So lets get to it.
This is a super bright green, hoppy, fresh New England. It is hoppy, it is strong, it gives you peach and candy aroma. Its like opening the brite tank of an IPA in progress, or just ripping open a bag of hops about to be added to the boil. Its that bold, bright, and fresh. The aroma definitely leaps at you.
The appearance is a murky, hazy, turbid, frothing sea of hop juice. The sea was angry that day my friends. Filled with hops, it looks every bit as green and hop juicy as you expect. It doesn’t have the full haze – orange glow that most New England IPAs have, this has a bit of a greener hoppier look to it, but its still certainly hazy, opaque, juicy, and still looks very delicious.
As soon as you take your first sip, you are immediately drop kicked in the teeth, the gums, the lips, the mouth, the whole oral area by hops. This is every bit as green, as bold, and powerful, as fresh, as straight from the tanks as a beer can get. You are getting hammered and walloped by a massive dose of hops right out of the gate on this one, and it doesn’t let up at all, until the last sip. Which, warning ahead, leave some in the can, as there is some sediment, and there is a bit of trub with these cans. I think this could be the only point of contention with this beer, it maybe could have used a little bit of extra time in the tanks before being canned; but I still think it is every bit the powerful hoppy New England IPA that people will want. Its not the full on juicy easy sipping hazy New England IPA, insomuch as its a hoppy, bite, powerful, hazy New England IPA. This is certainly a strong hoppy NE – IPA; which might put off some, and there is certainly a hop bite and even hop burn, but overall its an extremely good NE – IPA. You have an incredible aroma; a very hop forward and hoppy tasting IPA with notes of peach, papaya, and gummy candies, that blend together nice, with the added boost of the hop bite.
My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 3.17 (as of 11.1.21)
November
As in tradition here on the blog, in honor of NaNoWriMo, I will be posting a blog post every day. It will consist of who knows what all – beer reviews, book reviews, hike reviews, board game reviews, news articles, travelogues, brewery news, brewery openings, brewery closings (hopefully not), and anything else under the sun. So be sure to be checking in with us daily to see what all we got in store for this month!
Cheers everyone and see you tomorrow!
-B. Kline
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