Steam Brew Session IPA Beer Review

I'm so close to completing LIDL I can almost taste the relief. Much as I love it as a supermarket for it's really low prices and close proximity to my house I really don't love it for its beer selection, but despite this I've battled through the lot and there's only a couple left. Steam Brew Session IPA is part of a range of Steam Brew beers, but alas this is the only one I've found so far. I know absolutely nothing about the brewery and Google didn't even help a great deal, but they are certainly German as they appear to have won the German Design Award 2020, or at least that's what the can says. 

Even the Steam Brew website reveals next to nothing about them, where they are from, how long they've been brewing, or if they even exist outside of my imagination. What I do know though is the art work on the website is super cool and super steampunk. Coming from Lincoln, the unofficial home of steampunk I appreciate this.

Steam Brew Session IPA comes in a gorgeous 500ml can, I mean really it's a work of art, which is I guess is why they won the German Design Award. The photo doesn't do it justice because you just can't get all the artwork in one picture. It's very steam punk though, and therefore very cool. The beer actually pours a seriously light hazy orangey yellow with a luscious foamy head. This is quite a good looking beer, and at 4.9% alcohol content it seems to do what it says on the can. For all the world this looks like a session IPA, and as it's German, and the Germans really know how to do beer this could be pretty tasty. Lets hope so.

The aroma is very fruity, with pineapple really standing out, although there's probably some grapefruit in there too. It's certainly not an unpleasant smell, but it's a little surprising, I was expecting more hops and less fruit, mainly because the can makes absolutely no reference to any fruity flavours. That said much like the website the can makes very little reference to anything, it's just really pretty. This worries me a little, it almost feels like this beer could be all looks and no substance.

The texture is nice and smooth, the beer just rolls effortlessly down your oesophagus almost with no effort at all. And as for the taste, well boy is there a lot of pineapple in here, I mean sure there's some hops and malts too, but really it's all about the pineapple. There's also an odd excessively yeasty background taste, which actually and thankfully helps to quell the pineapple just enough to make you realise you're drinking a beer not a fruit juice. 

I guess all I can really say is that if you like pineapple a lot you'll really like this beer, the problem is that it doesn't look like a fruity beer from the can, so unless you've read this first, which luckily you now have, you'd have no idea what to expect. So really it's a bit of a mixed bag for Steam Brew Session IPA, gorgeous, but misleading looks, and an interesting, but not overly exciting taste. I'm going to give this beer a 6 out of 10, if you know what you're getting and that's what you like you'll love it, but if you're trying it for the sake of trying it you'll probably end up a little confused and a bit disappointed.