Sixpoint Bengali Tiger

Now that we’re all on board with the surge in popularity regarding craft beer in cans, it’s time to talk about another popular beer from Sixpoint, released in cans the same time as the others and available just as widely.

After last week’s post regarding The Crisp, I figured Sixpoint’s new cans might each need a post to themselves. Thus this week, Bengali Tiger gets its due. Canned IPA? Sign me up.

You’ve probably figured out by the name that Bengali Tiger is an India Pale Ale, and on the can the brewery takes it a little farther in describing its beer: “What immortal hand or eye/ Could frame thy fearful symmetry? Strides forward with a malty cadence, then leaps with a wave of bitterness. Slashed with a giant paw of citrus, pine, and resin! Note the lacing of stripes around your glass — it is the mark of the Tiger.” I couldn’t tell you if they were high or not when they came up with that.

From the description, Bengali Tiger is undoubtedly striving for more of an East coast-style IPA, which means it’ll be a lot more balanced between maltiness and hoppiness. West coast IPAs should be far hoppier and barely malty enough to prop up the bitterness, and, well, there are very few breweries on the East coast that even try to do that.

On the other hand, the UPC does double duty as a New York skyline, complete with a Statue of Liberty. That’s kind of cool.

The Tiger pours a hazy burnt orange, topped by a thick, creamy beige head that sticks to everything, even as it drops to a more manageable level. I’m enjoying the piney, resiny, juicy hop aroma coupled to a mild sweet maltiness and a touch of pear; the dry-hopping promoted on the can (there’s a lot of stuff on the can) isn’t lying, as it really makes the aroma much more interesting. There’s a bit of what I can only describe as the Telltale Sixpoint Yeast aroma going on in there, too — it’s obvious if you drink enough of the various beers, as it’s a common theme through them all, but it’s hard to put into words.

On tasting the Tiger, I was immediately taken by how… malty this beer is. Surely, it’s far too malty for IPA, which should smack you in the face with hops right at the first sip. But no, Bengali Tiger is content to sit back, slightly sweet, a good bit fruity, and only faintly piney and resiny. Maybe this had something to do with the carbonation, as for all that head it produced, it wasn’t particularly effervescent, and so while the hop aromas remained, once I tasted the beer most of that dissipated, leaving the slight caramelly maltiness and maybe a bit of peachy ester; at least it’s clean and not riddled with off-flavors. It’s decent.

Then a funny thing happened on the way to the bottom of my glass. It turned out that the flavor contributed from the hops — pine, pine, resin and pine — was accumulating, and the bitterness faintly dusting my palate started to grow more prominent. By a few ounces in the hoppiness was in full force, not ever in my face but solidly watching from a short distance away, getting stronger and stronger. The finish didn’t help matters, either, drying and raspy without getting astringent. So too the alcohol — a mere 6.2% — crept up little by little, never manifesting itself in the taste but certainly making a bit of an impact.

Overall I wound up enjoying this first can of Sixpoint’s Bengali Tiger. It isn’t anything like a world-beater, but it’s pleasant, not over-the-top hoppy so perhaps people who complain about too much bitterness might give this a shot (though it’s rated at 62 IBU, or International Bittering Units, which in a beer this strength means “pretty darn bitter”), and eminently poundable if not sessionable.

Where can you find Sixpoint’s wares? The Bengali Tiger hits a wide range of bars and restaurants on tap, but the cans seem to still concentrate at the usual suspects: Whole Foods Bowery, New Beer Distributors, and likely your favorite craft beer store. As with the Lager, the Tiger cost $8.99 for the four-pack of 16-ounce cans, a fair price in my opinion.

The Bengali Tiger has much in common with many of the IPAs brewed on this coast, like Dogfish Head’s 60 Minute IPA and Magic Hat’s Blind Faith, but I suggest sticking to Sixpoint’s rendition and enjoying that. Or, with a little luck, finding one of the draft-only IPAs brewed from time to time by them. Either way, sit back with a can and enjoy one of Brooklyn’s finest breweries.