Phantom Canyon IPA

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

I think this is the best brew in the Phantom Canyon lineup. They use a good blend of hops that appeals to the masses. It's a little underhopped for my tastebuds and nose, but it does have a good flavor. It goes great with their burger.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

Sampled on draft at Phantom Canyon. Clear copper in appearance with nice lacing. Its aroma is far too gentle for an IPA, but its certainly hoppier than the flavor. The flavor is astringent - almost as if all the hop additons came early in the boil. A poor hop schedule makes for a lackluster IPA. May have been hard on this beer since I'd been enjoying Great Divide's IPAs and Boulder's Hazed & Infused the previous day.

Aroma: 5 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 6

Amber colored beer with a hoppy nose. Flavor starts out nicely balanced between the malt and hops and grows increasingly bitter through the finish. Aftertaste is extremely bitter; an acrid, almost cigar smoke flavor hangs on afterward. Not bad, but not for those without a love of the hop.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Sampled draught at the brewpub in Downtown Colorado Springs, CO.

My first beer from this outfit, and a very nice first impression, indeed.

Came to me in a standard Shaker pint glass. A touch redder and darker than what I normally expect from the style, but it works.

Aroma on this beer was it's highlight -- very "punchy" in the nose, definately speaking highly of the either the extensive dry-hopping and/or the freshness of this particular beer.

Which leads me to the flavor profile. Kinda... um, odd, I would say. Seems like it's kinda empty in the middle. The backend bitterness is there, that's for sure -- very strong hoppy backbone to this dude. And again, lots of hops in the nose, telling me that the made sure that the last few minutes of the boil featured the addition of some more hops.

But the middle seems kinda peculiar -- kinda like they either accidentally or purposefully skipped any hop additions mid-boil (the "Flavor Addition", in homebrewer parlance), and intended to make it up with a ton of hops in the very end of the boil and/or in the dry hopping. Not really a "fault" per se, but just seems a little disjointed.

All the same, this was still a nice pint to start my quick trip to the brewpub with. Full, but not filling; drinkable, but not "easy drinking", etc.

Not their best beer available IMO, but this still did quite alright in my book... :)
//TB