AleSmith IPA

Brewed by AleSmith Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
San Diego, California USA

Bottle@home Apperance: AMber color with a creamy head and lots of sticky lacing. Nice! Aroma: Hops, Citric notes, Pine, Caramel, Exotic fruit. Flavor: Grass, Citric notes, Exotic fruit, Caramel, Hay, Pine. Palate: Nice bitterness but where is the malt body to back it up. Medium carbonation. This is a very high rated IPA and i can’t understand why. Maybe this bottle is too old or something but for me this is just a mediocre brew.

WOW! There is alot going on with beer. Pours golden with a nice head. Aromas of citrusy hops with a lemon/lime character. Flavor is a hint of mango and peach with a note of caramel for balance. Finishes with a very slight bitterness and a creamy texture. Overall the IPA ROCKS!

22 oz bomber courtesy as an extra from LilBeerDoctor. Thanks a bunch! Pours a orange amber, good haze, lively carbonation with offwhite thick moderate head that laces pretty well, dies to a decent layer. Aromas are grapfruity hops and citrusy zest, a touch of soap, faint pine and good to balance caramel and toffee malts. Initial is very bitter, hoppy citrus and pine towards the finish, soap and acidic hoppy bitterness. Body has sufficient malt, but pours on the hops in copious amounts. Strong bitterness, pine takes a further role, citrusy grapefruit and florals come in strong as well. Caramel and toffee malt underneath, but this beer is all about the hops. Finish goes a bit sweet, toffee and bread with a touch of mellow vanilla (As the malt bill is much more mellow than expected.. and very much appreciated.. I hate a cloying caramel bomb), with more fruity notes. The front end and middle are hop heavy. Slanted towards the hops overall, very piney. The head stays around near it’s original pour level, really quite amazing, laces ok. Hops linger on the palate very well, nothing too sweet, as lingering bread and vanilla seem to be the maltiness. Top shelf IPA. I’d put it in my top 3 so far. Cheers!

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. :-)