Third Street Brewhouse Hop Lift IPA India Pale Ale

Third Street Brewhouse Hop Lift IPA, Brewed and Canned by Third Street Brewhouse, Cold Spring, MN. 6.2% ABV.

Clear, bright golden coloring, large, if short-lived, ivory head, leaving some lacing.

Aroma: Bold and piney, full of citrus notes, with a whiff of tropical. Nice.

In the mouth: Big bitter bite up front, with citrus-y notes bouncing off the palate. Lemon and grapefruit, prickly, spicy, delicious. A lean, light-bodied ale, this. A bit too thin, that would be the main flaw. But there's a lot of hop punch in this one, plenty of what satisfies a hop-head like me. Yeah, it's a good IPA and you can drink it.

I haven't had a Third Street beer in a while. The last review I did was almost 2 years ago, a pint from on tap at Northbound, back when I worked there. So that one was free. Before that, sample bottles from a generous Sample Man who crept bringing me beers that I didn't order. I remained on the unimpressed side of the fence for a considerable amount of time. Gave a bomber of "Cool Beans" a hard look the other day, but couldn't pull the trigger with the $12 price tag.

This beer? It ain't bad. I'd drink another. In fact, this is my fourth, of the 4-pack. You won't see me turn another down, though. Give me a good IPA, and I'll drink the heck out of it. Give me a bad one, and I'll be sure to tell you. (Well, okay, I'll tell you, dear reader. Don't call me a hypocrite and cite the Kinney Creek review.)

Here's the gobbledygook from the label: You love big, bold hoppy IPA’s. We get it. We love them, too. That’s why we put 600 pounds of hops in every tank of our Hop Lift IPA. Getting that many hops 40 feet up in the air and into our fermenter is no easy task. But we’re up for it. And when you taste this bold, dry-hopped brew bursting with citrus and passion fruit notes, you’ll be glad we did. How we do it, we’ll never tell. Do you need a hop lift today?