Limited Edition IPA

[bottle from Waitrose, Marlow] "Only" 68,000 bottles produced of this. The attractive but unnecessary value-added packaging normally means this beer retails at 50p or so above the regular Innis & Gunn’s, but Waitrose had 25% off bringing it down to a reasonable £1.49. Pours amber with a moderate white head that is slow to dissipate. There is moderate carbonation that is well matched to the beer. Aroma is initially grassy hops, but is soon dominated by vanilla and wood. Taste is overwhelmingly of vanilla and cream soda and vanilla ice cream. There’s possibly (of all things!) some dolly mixtures in there, with oaky overtones; it put me in mind of some Glenturret 10yo single malt whisky I had recently (maybe they both use the same barrels or something?) Behind all this, there’s just a hint of citrus. It says on the bottle that it’s called an IPA because it’s made in the same way that IPA’s traditionally were - adding hops to the barrel before leaving it to mature. That may well be the case, but it certainly tastes nothing like a modern-day IPA. There’s no hint of bitterness here at all, in fact it’s one of the sweetest beers I’ve had. Despite that, it leaves none of the syrupy mouthfeel that strong and sweet beers often leave behind; instead it has a very clean, crisp mouthfeel - despite leaving you feeling like you’ve had a Mr Whippy Ice Cream! To be quite honest, I’ve never known another beer like this - as with most of the Innis & Gunn offerings, it’s very unusual, and very challenging - and I liked this one very much! Provided you think of this as a pudding beer (maybe you could use it as a sauce for your banana split?) and not an IPA, it’s superb!.