AleSmith IPA

Pours a slightly hazy glowing light amber with a rocky beige head that leaves globs of lacing and doesn’t fade. The nose is rife with bright grapefruit and pine with wafts of spice and vanilla. Its truely something to marvel at as each component of the aroma is so pronounced. The flavour is no let down, in fact it’s even better! Fresh grapefruit and floral hops, as well as some pine characterize the flavour with a light, bready, sweet malt backbone. I wouldn’t even say it’s bitter. I just has so much flavour. The palate is thinner, but it comes across as "crisp" and has a long duration, finishing bone dry and as hoppy as a quality dipa.

Bottle thanks to zinister. Pour is cloudy brown with a minimal whitish head. Aroma is caramel malt, cinnamon, hops, and woody/brandy notes. Flavor is malty, woody, distant hops, and a nice pine crisp finish. I think I waited too long for this one. Went IPA crazy this spring/summer and kind of put this one away for a while. But, I like old IPA’s most of the time so it was not a disappointment.

Bottle@Oslo Øljunta Olympen Gathering. A small offwhite head upon a foggy, amber colored body. Loads of hops up front; tropical, apricot, citrus and grass. A faint whiff of dryish malts. Predominant hop flavors; fresh citrus, evergreen and straw/grass. Some quite sweet, caramellish malts in the background. Medium body. Strong, lingering bitterness in the finish. Very potent, very drinkable.

22 oz. bottle from John’s Marketplace in Portland, Oregon. I think this is going to be an Alesmith night. I have 3 Alesmith beers lined up. Anyways. Nice fluffy head that fades away slowly. Haze orange appearance. This beer looks pretty good. Fruity orange citrus. Holy jeez this is intense. I haven’t smelled a citrus orange/fruity aroma like this before. As the description says there is a slight pine backing to the aroma. Very pungent aroma that is not hard to smell. A nice citrus hop flavor. Not extremely bitter, which is good. This bitterness allows you to drink this in mass quantities without getting "hopped out". Smooth beer, with a taste that is awesome. I can’t taste the alcohol, which is great, but can be dangerous for me. I just can’t get over the citrus. This beer is awesome. Fortunately, unlike drowland, I was able to drink the 22 oz. by myself. Extremely good stuff. This is a tough battle for the top IPA.

This is one fruity and floral IPA that is simply delicious. The aroma was so much on the fruity and floral side it was practically like esters were there from added candy sugar or something! Nuts! This is very delicious and quite balanced. However, I shared a bomber bottle with a friend, and we were both SEVERELY disappointed with the quantity. :-)

I really enjoyed this beer. Up to this past year I wasn’t much of a Hoppy beer person, but thanks to repeated exposure by my friends and family it has forced its way into my beer rotation. This is one of the better IPA’s that I have had, and it is something that I will purchase in the future.

22 The beer is very hoppy, complex, yet still needs a bit more Umh to top a bigger than expected alcohol bite. It simply competes w/ the hops (I’d think 7ish ABV). Don’t get me wrong this IPA has it all (pine, grapefruit, orange, & all around sweet resin); it just exists in that weird spot of being stronger that yr reg. IPA but lacking the hops & alcohol? of the big boys. Also an $8 bomber. Still It’s Pretty Awesome.

From a bottle poured a copper color with a fair amount of head. Nice hoppy flavor with a quick bitter finish.