Angel City IPA

Brewed by Angel City Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Los Angeles, California USA

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

Bottle: Hazy amber foamy off-white head. Nose of sweet candy and celery, light caramel. The flavor is tinny and metallic, full of sour dry malts and some bitter notes. Finishes bad. Just aweful.

This IPA looked very promising but turned out to be a dud. The aroma was a old smell of caramel malt and similar to a very old and aged barleywine. Flavor is terrible and old with a very stale presence of malt and expired hops. I can’t imagine this ale tasting good at any point in time. I wish they had a date on their bottle so i could confirm that this is just a old bottle or thats just how this intentionally was supposed to taste.

Super clear, deep copper, almost amber with a thin off white head. Head goes away almost immediately. No foam, no lacing. Huge caramel malt aroma, that’s all I get, maybe a little toffee. Flavor is bitter up front, then carmelly and malty in the middle, and a little bitter again in the finish. Detected more of the Goldings flavor as the beer warmed, tiny bit spicy and maybe a little lemony. Nice medium body. Different in an English kind of way. Not really my style, but appreciated. A little over carmelly, but good.

Bottled. Pours a dark brown/amber color. Aroma is a little tart, not really very hoppy. Smells kind of off. Slight hoppiness. Not a west coast style. Some roasted caramel flavors. Overly sweet finish. Tastes like an amber. Some alcohol is present.

22oz. bottle. Bright orange with yellow tinges. Tall white rocky head. Soapy applejuice aroma. Rather acetic malt flavor dominates, some muted resinous bitter hops. Ruddy, almost burnt caramel flavors in the finish, with some residual sourness. Mouthfeel is medium, somewhat dry. Possibly infected from the suprising flavors.

Note Possible bad bottle. This IPA pours a deep amber color from a 22oz bottle. Small to medium sized white foamy head. Aroma is caramel, tart fruits and very herbal. A medium bodied IPA. Malts are caramel and sweet with lots of tart/sour fruit flavors. Hops are herbal and earthy. Nice carbonation. It just that this beer has a weird taste that makes me think it gone off or is a little infected or something. It seems to be a lots more in the English Style IPA, with all that herbal and earthy hops flavor, but it has a sort of lactic aftertaste that does not seem right somehow. I am going to go ahead and rate this with the proviso to get another bottle and re-rate it sometime in the future. I mean I have had worse tasting IPAs than this one. Mouthfeel is full. Finish is crisp. Aftertaste is slightly bitter and a touch sour.

UPDATED: MAR 7, 2008 Re-rate: 22 oz. bottle, also from BevMo LaJolla. Pours a medium clear amber with a small to moderate off-whitish head that leaves spotty lace. Aroma is toasty with light notes of summer fruit and citrus, floral hop notes are evident as well. Flavor is interesting to say the least. This is definitely not a West Coast IPA, with biscuity malts, hints of toffee and toast, citrus notes and floral hops quickly come to the fore along with a bit of dust and earth, leading to a bitter herby finish. Light to medium body and moderately tingly carbonation. This bottle is not infected like the first one I rated likely was. Overall I like the beer, it’s quite drinkable and enjoyable. Still it’s way out ot the IPA box for me, and I agree with others who have cast it as ESB-ish, or certainly VERY traditional English in style. My overall rating went up by .2 for this bottle. 22 oz bottle from BevMo LaJolla. Pours dark amber/copper color with a moderate off-white head that leaves a trace of lace as it dissipates. Caramel malts, tart fruit and citrusy hops in the aroma, maybe just a bit soured?, hmmm. Flavor features more of the caramel malt and just beginning to sour fruit, earthy and herbal notes along with the citrus hops. Medium body and gentle carbonation. Not bad but not what I was expecting. I’ll have to have another and perhaps rerate.

Mostly clear copper body with a thin layer of off-white foam floating atop. An interesting, hoppy aroma of earthy floral perfume, light pine, caramel, whole grains, lemon zest, fresh grass and and a hint of grapefruit. The body is fairly full and robust, with good heft on the tongue. The flavor is decent, with fairly nice balance. The sweet caramel, whole grains, and English-style hop bitterness are pretty enjoyable. Maybe it’s my jaded American experience with lots of Dreadnaught and Ruinination, but this just do much for me. I think it’s a fairly decent--and is probably a well made--beer, but it’s not the best hedonistic experience for me.