From the great Canadian province of British Columbia comes this rather inconspicuous looking IPA in a can. I'm not entirely sure why, but I dismissed this beer when I first saw it in the beer aisle at my local Whole Foods. Out of curiosity, I came home and checked out the online reviews and was blown away by how great they were for this beer. Needless to say, I went back and bought a six pack to see if it could possibly live up to all the hype.

From the Central City site:

"An ale that was fashioned to survive the long voyage from England to India during the British colonization. Hops, hops, and more hops this ale has an intense aroma and a long lingering finish."

Here we go...

Pour - Somewhere between amber and gold lies the color of this beer. Nice and clean with little bubbles streaming north to make a sticky, fluffy coat on top. 

Aroma - Oh man, this is the stuff. Super fresh squeezed bitter grapefruit, ridiculously piney, resiny awesome hoppiness! It's all there. I could huff this stuff. Has to be one of the best smelling IPAs I've come across (can, bottle or tap) in a while. 

Taste - Grapefruit! Wow. This is the most grapefruity beer I've ever had (including Pliny and Hop Stoopid). Super fresh hops, pine, some orange peel but more than anything this tastes like a fresh squeezed grapefruit with a bit of malty goodness thrown in for fun. 

Overall - I'm blown away. I would have never thought that this beer came out of this can. Awesome stuff! I love these kinds of IPAs and am stoked I can get this here in New England. Also, this was my first beer from BC and it was excellent! I may need to go back and try the other two that Central Brewing is distributing here in MA. 

Would I buy more of it? - Hell yeah! I am going back for another six-pack very soon. This could easily be my go to beer and I'd love it if I had an endless supply in my fridge. 

Note: In the States this beer is called Red Racer IPA but at the brewpub in BC, Canada it goes by the name Empire IPA.