Buckeye Hippie I.P.A.

Brewed by Buckeye Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Lakewood, Ohio USA

Pours to a hazy bronzed mahogany body with a large offwhite head and picture perfect lacing. The aroma is sprucey, caramel, oranges, butter. The flavor is really toasted malts. Buttered bread, grassy hops, sweet malts, light bitterness. Really nice flavor but not really IPA like. The palate is medium bodied, light oily bitterness, good mouthfeel. I would call this a Strong Ale, not an IPA.

22oz bottle, courtesy of miketd. Thanks, Mike! Pours a clear, medium amber color; off-white head with patchy, fine-bubbled lacing. Surprisingly malty, earthy aroma; there’s definitely a significant citrus and grassy hoppiness in there, but it’s all but overshadowed by wet malts and brown sugar. Medium-to-full mouthfeel: plenty of chewy maltiness and resiny citrus hop character; lively carbonation; slightly astringent, mouthdrying hop presence; there’s a chewy candy sugar / floral presence that appears at mid-palate. The roughness in the palate makes it hard to drink a lot of this, although it’s a pleasant enough dose of hops. Lengthy, candy sugar and astringent hop finish; mouthdrying.

Bottle at Rudy’s tasting May ’08, courtesy of Rudy. Sharp resiny hops in aroma. Neat dark brown, small white head. Sharp hop taste. Body is a tad watery making this seem very bitter. Good stuff.

22oz bottle from crizay. Good floral aroma. Orange body with off white head. Good juicy citrus flavor with a malt backbone that took away the crispness of an ipa. Good beer thanks Chris.

Pours a lightly hazy deep copper to amber color beer, it is topped by a frothy tan head with amber highlights. The aroma has a sweet, almost sticky caramelized citrus note to it; with both a solid malt and hop contribution. I get notes of tangerine, candied orange peel, and something akin to a caramel glazed bready character.

The body of this beer has a certain heft to it, which coats the palate and lingers a bit without being cloying. There is a solid malty sweetness here, and it is in good balance with the hop levels. That is to say that this is a bit on the tame side, at least hop wise, for an IPA. The combination of the malt sweetness and the flavorful hop additions give this beer a sort of hop nectar type note. There are notes of orange, tangerine, floral nectar, . The beer finishes with a solid bitter contribution that has a hint of astringent hop character along with a lingering caramelized orange note.

This beer is very well balanced for an IPA, lots of hops of course, but also a substantial malt profile that is noticeable in its own right. This beer is quite nice, though it is a little to sweet and malty to be quaffable, it is an easy sipping beer that allows me to slowly work my way through this 22oz bottle.

Pours a slightly hazy, rusty orange-brown color. A large, fizzy, off-white head deflates quickly and disappears completely. Absolutely no lacing noted. The aroma is really heavy on toasted grains, with stale caramel and almost no discernible hops. The flavor is dominated by those same dry, toasted grains with bitter, stale grapefruit hops. The body is on the lighter side of medium and grossly over carbonated. Finishes dry and harshly astringent. Horrible beer. Possibly a bad bottle.

Bottle shared with a bunch of folks at DougShoemaker’s Decemberfest 2006 - courtesy of rudolf. Orange-amber colour with a mild haze. Spicy citric hops and brown sugar malt in the nose. Flavour is quite hoppy, but not over the top, with good sweet malt to back it up. Good stuff.

RBSG 2004: Clear orange with a large rocky off-white head. Light hops in the aroma, starts and ends bitter. Medium bodied with a short ending that has some wood character to it.