Beer Review: Cottrell Brewing Co.'s Mystic Bridge IPA

I was at my local liquor store over the weekend wondering what to get.  Another guy was there wondering the same thing, and we talked.  He was on his way to a campfire with a bunch of his rather more mundane beer drinking friends while I was looking for something that was both a nice quality beer and also not overwhelmingly hoppy or "big".  My new friend recommended Cottrell Brewing's Mystic Bridge IPA, and so I bought a pack.

Cottrell's website describes its Mystic Bridge IPA as follows:
Mystic Bridge is a great example of our year 'round New England IPA.  A mildly earthy IPA with hints of citrus paring with foods or for session drinking.

To that, I will add that Mystic Bridge IPA is 6% alcohol by volume.

Appearance
Sally asked to sample the beer with me, so I poured it out into two glasses.  The Mystic Bridge IPA was golden in color with just a hint of white/off-white head.  Tons of tiny bubbles were present, indicating the presence of some substantial carbonation.  The beer itself was a bright, golden color and murky but translucent.    A beautiful beer, maybe a touch lighter in color than some of the other IPAs we've sample lately.

Aroma
Sally and I both gave the Mystic Bridge a healthy sniff.  For me, I thought it was just a clean, fresh smelling beer with a hint of hops but no more.  Sally said she smelled some fruit, something like peaches.  We gave it another go and both agreed that there was a nice, flowering hop presence there and maybe just a touch of something else.  Not fruit exactly, but... well, peaches.

Taste and Mouth Feel
I gotta say, the Mystic Bridge IPA came pretty much exactly as promised.  There was a small hop presence at the front of the mouth, but mostly this was a clean, drinkable beer.  Clearly a strong, more traditional malt presence.  There was a bare hint of fruit, but the beer itself wasn't at all sweet.  It reminded me more of an American-style pale ale with maybe a bit more hops than usual, especially at the back of the tongue and in the after-taste.  Bottom line, this was pretty much exactly what I'd gone in the store looking for, and it made me smile to realize that I'd gotten a good recommendation.

Needless to say, the beer itself was yummy as Hell, and Sally and I both scarfed it like it was going out of style.  As they say, this is an excellent beer for, well, "session" drinking.

Final Thoughts
Well, I'm glad I bought a six-pack, since I'm now looking forward to drinking some more of this stuff.  The Mystic Bridge is an excellent beer, very drinkable and frankly, very approachable in comparison to a lot of what's out there in the craft beer market right now.  Sally and I both enjoyed it thoroughly, and I'm quite sure we'll both be drinking more.  That it's a local brewery on top of that is just icing on the cake.