Today’s review is a beer from Lidl that isn’t part of their new range. It’s a staple in the shops I believe and after some digging I believe it is a contract brew from Eichbaum Brewery in Mannheim, Germany. This is the Session IPA from a series of beers called ‘Steam Brew’. A whole premise and backstory has been created for the six beers in the series with characters on the front being resistance fighters in a dystopian steampunk world where beer is outlawed. Slightly bizarre, I know.
The beer pours a surprisingly hazy straw gold, with a light carbonation rolling up the glass. There is actually quite a pleasant nose on the beer with a decent citrus aroma and a malty, almost toast like, quality to it. Flavour wise the beer is okay but in my mind it tastes much more like a premium lager than an IPA. Hardly any hop comes through and lacks that distinctive IPA bitterness. It’s quite smooth and refreshing with a little tang but pretty average overall.
A quick note on the can art: I actually think the art is very detailed and I believe even won a German Design Award this year. It features ‘The Sister’, one of the resistance fighters in the universe.
This is not a bad beer at all but I would argue it is not an IPA. It smells and tastes like a lager to me. Citrus and malt play a big role on the aroma. If you think of it as a premium style lager then it’s actually not half bad and on a hot summers day I’d happily sink a few of these. In fact I’d prefer it over some of your bog standard supermarket macro lagers. I also sort of like the cheesy backstory given to these beer so I will pick the others up if I come across them.
Score: 5/10
Thanks for reading! Cheers!
Additional Information:
- Hops: Vic Secret
- Malt: Not Available
- IBU: 35
- ABV: 4.9%
- Gluten Free: No
- Vegan: Yes!
- Purchase Price: £1.79
- Purchase Location: Lidl
Lorenzo Beer Reviews 
Hi,
I just tried this ipa both the session and the wheat type. I agree, they are alright for the price and you need to make sure they are well chilled.
Obviously there is better ipa in the market but I am living in Italy and it seems the good ones are expensive and difficult to come across.
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Tried it and could not drink it until it had been in the fridge for about 3 weeks. Even then it was barely drinkable. There is a lot better IPAs out there than this one.
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5/10 is a bit harsh in my opinion; I hope the reference to Lidl did not a play a role in that. I’ll take this above half of the Brewdog varieties, which are overly priced btw. I agree that this beer is a warm-weather beer. There are some of us out there who like the Belgian flavor, minus the high alcohol percentage. Best chilled in the freezer and drunk out of a Duvel-style glass. Goes imho with hard old cheeses best. Enjoy.
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Well, I’m not a big beer connoisseur, but I would not completely agree with the review (IPA/lager). It is easy on barley malt, maybe even more than some lager beers, but it has quite strong citrus and maybe bitterly taste. For me it is IPA strong on hops. But it is a beer that I could drink in summer days. It smells ok, but I’m not sure about the taste, on which we can not argue. Regardless of low price I’m not sure if I’ll buy it again. But maybe I got “cheaper” easter european version of the beer…
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Been a while since I had a can of this, I might grab a can (if they are still in Lidl) to give it another go. As you say nothing crazy but wouldn’t begrudge drinking one or two on a hot day! Cheers 🙂
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I love this canned beer…in fact it is hard to beat for the price.
and I havd tried most supermarket beers..it seems to bd out of stock everywhere and replaced by its ‘big brother’ which is too heavy at 7.8%
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Totally agree, can’t go wrong at the price. Interestingly none of the Lid’s near me have never had the stronger version. Will keep an eye out for it as I haven’t tried it before!
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