Guest Video Review by Jeff Lyons
Looking for a bottle of Baxter Stowaway IPA folks? You’re out of luck. Start looking for a can, and you might have more success. That’s because the Baxter Brewing Company of Lewiston, Maine only packages its beer in cans, be they of the convenient 12-ounce variety or the much bigger 15.5 gallon version commonly known as kegs.
Baxter Brewing beers are not sold here in Georgia, but I did get a can of this tasty IPA in a beer trade with our featured guest video reviewer above. Baxter recommends the cans for all of your outdoor activities, and suggests some of them on the rim of the can. Among them:
“Cooler. Backpack. Fridge. Hike. Picnic. Beach……”
Etcetera.
No details on hops and malts used, but Baxter does say this about the beer on its website:
Stowaway pours with a nice, creamy head; a huge hop aroma of citrus, pine and grapefruit notes; and a big, complex, and intense hop flavor from the 5 different hop varieties and double-dry-hopping procedure used in making this beer.
Interestingly enough, Baxter quotes a Beer Advocate review on their website that cites a ““Quick hit of ripe tropical fruit”, which I did not get here. Some hops (most notably Mosaics) give off some “tropical fruit”, but people are finding the same in every beer it seems these days, and it’s not always there. For me, this was more of a solid American IPA in the old chewy malt, citrus-resin hop variety.
Baxter Stowaway IPA has an alcohol content of 6.9% by volume and 69 IBUS.
Baxter Stowaway IPA pours to a bright orange color with a towering rocky head formation and a resiny nose with highlights of bright orange citrus. A thick layer of Brussels lace coats the side of my glass and follows the liquid down to the bottom. Taking a sip, I get wonderfully thick and chewy caramel and toasted malt up front, followed by the hops: very resiny with thick sticky pine, a little less grapefruit, and then in the finish a colossal long lingering dry bitterness.
This was an excellent IPA with a firm malt backbone just as I like them. It was delicious with a dinner of Kung Pao tacos, the hoppiness of the IPA pairing perfectly with the spicy tacos.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft