Brewery – Listermann Brewing Company
Beer – Sabotage
Style – NE IPA
ABV – 8%

Listen all of y’all, it’s a sabotage! Loads of hops, oats, wheat, vanilla, and a sh*t ton of actual strawberries conspired to sabotage the standard idea of IPAs to create a substance that looks something like a milkshake, but smashed full of aromas and flavors of candied pear and cherry, strawberries and cream, vanilla, mango, and mixed tropical fruits. No tricks or gimmicks, just pure sabotage.

This beer has made a couple of appearances at Listermann, the latest (as of writing this) being the release of it in 16oz cans as part of their “Hip Hop Series” of NE IPAs.  It’s also one of my favorites from the series, and has improved upon itself since the first time I tasted it for sure!

The release days for each of Listermann’s NE IPAs have been crazy to say the least – parties, full of fantastic bottles sharing, and beer community building camaraderie – it’s shone a new light on a part of craft beer that was lacking here in Cincinnati.  Sabotage was released on June 3rd 2017 alongside ‘Babycat Meowface’ – and made it’s way out into distribution – a rarity for their NE IPA series.

My Thoughts On Sabotage

This beer takes a different approach to the NE IPA style and get’s a big hit of strawberry and lactose to pull in some of the character of a strawberry milkshake (a character that I wish it had even more of).

In the glass, the beer is hazy (surprise!) golden colored, with a slight pink tinge if you get it in the right lighting.  The big frothy white head on top makes me want to go get a spoon to eat with before I start drinking.

Aromas are more tropical fruit than they are strawberry, and I get some nice grainy cereal smells alongside the pineapple and mangos that hit me at first.

The beer has a nice smooth creamy mouthfeel, still, it’s bright and fruity with dominant citrus tastes sitting right front and center.

I enjoyed this beer a ton, but really, really wish that it had more of that Strawberry milkshake character.  It’s not fair because it’s an amazing beer… but my bias going into drinking it has me feeling a little let down.  Is it worth grabbing – for sure!