Après l'échec de la lager de la même brasserie, j'ai réitéré et testé la bière IPA. Ici c'est une meilleure surprise, elle est plutôt agréable avec des notes houblonnées, pointe d'acidité, une IPA sans signe distinctif particulier mais tout à fait buvable.

The IPA from this local "Petite Brasserie Martiniquaise", brewed partially with wheat malt so technically a white IPA of sorts; big thanks to Stéphane for these bottles, cheers! Thick and indeed moussy, cobweb-lacing, snow white, regular and dense, stable head on a crystal clear, warm and pure 'old gold' coloured beer with visible sparkling, turning misty and somewhat deeper orangey-tinged with sediment. Aroma of grapefruit peel, lemon blossom, white soap (quite strong), perfumey bath foam even (lavender), tulips, baking soda, white bread dough, hints of peppermint candy, toasted onion and canned guava juice - but not really the announced mango, lychee or peach, at least not in a convincing way like many other (primarily New England) IPAs have. Sweetish, spritzy onset, lots of lively, minerally effervescence, clean and sleek with hints of unripe banana and vague guava with a dash of green apple somewhere, slick body, slender white-bready core with considerable wheat soapiness at its edges, quickly bittered by perfumey, citrus-blossomy, grapefruit-peel- and peppery hops, repeating these lavender and lemon blossom effects retronasally but also depositing a relatively long and quinine-like, persistent 'old school' bitterness, drying the root of the tongue. The perfumey (lavender) aspect continues as well, but the hop bitterness gets the last word here - in a way reminiscent of the old West Coast IPAs that dominated the IPA world before the 'haze craze'. Feels very clean, semi-industrial and factory-made, but I must admit that (apart from that odd 'perfumeyness') this Mousse does get its main flavours right and is apparently not afraid to throw in a strong, old-fashioned hop bitterness in the mix to convince its consumers that they are really dealing with an American style IPA here. Obviously not the greatest IPA around in a world which brews gazillions of them, rather simplistic and too clean and one-dimensional, but still enjoyable for what it is - especially seen where it comes from. Much better than expected, to be frank.