Ilkley Brewery
Lotus IPA
5.6%
Ilkley, West Yorkshre, UK

Ilkley Brewery has won several awards for a variety of its beers so I thought it was about time I tried a couple of their beers. I actually tried the Ilkley Pale first but was left a little bit disappointed with it. The brewery itself was first founded in 1873 but shut down in early 1920s however in 2009 Ilkley Brewery was revived and is now an essential part of the community in Ilkley. As a result they’ve been able to create jobs for local people and now produce well over 40,000 pints a week. Impressive!

The Ilkley Lotus is an award-winning English IPA, it is the winner of SIBA bronze and silver medals, and two Gold Stars from the Guild of Fine Food. Two different type of American hops are used in the making of this IPA including cascade and summit. It pours caramel in colour, has a high amount of froth at the top of the glass and there is a high amount of carbonation.

It reminds me more of an amber or golden ale than an IPA. It has a fruity aroma but a very bitter finish. A proper English golden bitter. The water is of course used from the lovely Yorkshire dales and two types of malts. It’s a very drinkable IPA but I tend to want a bit hop from an IPA and thus I found it slightly disappointing but only because I had high expectations based on word of mouth and the various awards the brewer has picked up.

OVERALL: 3/5