Central City Red Racer IPA Review

We've here at DrinkCraftBeer.com have been digging craft beer in cans for a while now. So, when we heard there was a new canned IPA in Boston, we had to give it a try! We've heard a lot about Central City's Red Racer IPA, both that it's a great beer and that they were having some legal problems Bear Republic in California regarding the name and font. Let's forget the legal issues for a second; we're not here to discuss intellectual property, we're here to drink craft beer! Now, on to the beer:

Appearance: This IPA pours with a huge thick, taupe head that lasts and last and lasts! It just doesn't go away, that's some serious head retention! As the head shrinks, it just gets denser somehow. The beer is a dark copper color, like an old penny, and totally clear.

Smell: WHOA! HOPS! All we can smell is hops. This is literally like sticking your nose in a bag of hops. Very few IPAs we've ever had even come close to this one, there is no other aroma coming through. Go buy a bag of hops at your local homebrew store... we'll wait.

Got the hops? Good. Breath deep, really smell them. Now you've smelled this beer!

Taste: The beer starts out dry but not super bitter. Some light caramelly malt flavors come through but quickly give way to piney hops and a mild bitterness that stays on the back of the tongue. As much as this IPA reeks of hops, we expected more bitterness and flavor to be honest. It's good, but there's other IPAs that are drier and hoppier that we'd prefer in the warm weather. One note, though, is that as the beer warms more hop flavor comes through. It's a very good beer that we'd drink any day we could... it seems it would fit winter better. During the summer, we tilt towards dry and bright IPAs with a lot of bitterness. In the colder weather a nice, warming, flavorful IPA with a little more malt is what we want.