LaConner India Pale Ale (Bottleworks)

Formerly brewed at LaConner Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
LaConner, Washington USA

Name: India Pale Ale (Bottleworks)
Date: July 06, 2005
Mode: Bottle
Source: Trade
Appearance: opaque orange, big off white head, chunks of whole hops floating on top
Aroma: fresh hop aroma with a touch of sweetness
Flavor: big bitter hop flavor, picks up some sweetness in and a malt backbone after the hops are strained out, bitter finish lasts forever
Overall: too much gimmic, the extra long dry hopping makes it too bitter
Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 2/10; Palate: 2/10; Overall: 5/20
Rating: 1.9/5.0
Score: 4

The score was calculated based upon the notes and an old scoring system.

12-oz. Thanks BillKismet! I had given up on the idea of ever rating one of these. Pours cloudy golden-amber with a white ring of foam. Earth, flowers and pine aroma. Medium body, nearly still. Taste of mango, caramel and earth. Amazing for it’s age - I’m spotting it a couple of points on overall impression just for being an IPA senior citizen. This had to be awesome when it was even remotely fresh.

Seriously BillKismet, thanks dude, what a treat. No. Way. Jasmine and herbal nose, gusher, lots of head. Very chewy, you can taste the hop pellets, though the bitterness has fallen off to the floral foundation. Never thought I’d be able to have one of these.

Thank you so much BliiKismet, I wasn’t sure if I was ever going o get to try this one,definitely a pleasant surprise. Matt knew what this one was going to do, we had a strainer ready and waited for the gush, I thought for sure there would be oxidation and loss of some of the hop aroma, but the kitchen was instantly filled with an awesome citrus fruit aroma. Great hop bitterness and hop flavor backed up by a nice sweet maltiness. The transistion from initial hop bitterness to flavor was near spot on. Awesome!

12-oz. Wow, wow, wow, thanks BillKismet! Can’t hardly believe I get to try this. Murky dark orangeish amber. Towering gushy head. Huge herbal, slightly buttery/spicy nose. Creamy medium body. Beautiful floral fruity hop with doughy malt on the mid-palate. Awesome, awesome beer, magnified all the further by thinking we’d never get our hands on any.

2004 - This is absolutely one of the most fantastic things I have ever had the pleasure of drinking. The hops are way intense, way more than anything else I had experience at the time, with an herbal stinging bitterness almost making my tongue and lips nimb, definitely tingly. The malt backbone does a great job of stnading up to this onslaught but it really gets overpowered, but you still get a lot of chewy caramel maltiness flooded with citrusy hop goodness.

12 oz. bottle has " DH " hand written on the green cap. Amber colored with a huge head that took several minutes to settle. Massive smell of grapefruit and pine tree resins. Has a malt sweetness which mingles nicely with the huge hop flavor. Chewing on the hops will kill your taste buds. My guess is cellaring this beer for twenty years won’t diminish the hop flavor. Sept 4/2004

Bottle thanks to kyzr poured threw a strainer a hazy yellow color with a huge foamy white head. The aroma was floral citrus hops and a small amount of caramel. Flavor had a smooth bitterness along with a nice body of caramel and citrus. The finish was slightly dry and bitter. There was some signs of age, but not much as expected.