Atwater Salvation IPA

Brewed by Atwater Block Brewery
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Detroit, Michigan USA

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

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Date: 06/01/2006
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting

clear light amber, whispy white head, sweet carmel malt aroma with a sweaty funk, balanced hop flavor backed up by dry carmel malt, long light bitter finish

Aroma: 5/10; Appearance: 5/10; Flavor: 5/10; Palate: 5/10; Overall: 10/20
Rating: 2.6/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: *4

Bottle at Brickseller, Washington DC
Hazy blond color. A quite easy Pale Ale, dryish, but with a fairly strong hopping.

(12oz bottle) Crystal clear light amber body topped by medium off-white head with nice lacing. Aroma is medium sweet, bread/biscuit, some grapefruit. Taste is medium sweet, grapefruit/earthy, some herbal, caramel. Light-medium body, some chewiness.

Bottle from Vintage Cellar. Pours bright gold with a 7-finger head. Aroma is somewhat yeasty malt over resin and fruity hops. Medium plus body with very smooth, soft carbonation. Flavor is pine and citrus. The malt is rather subdued. A whole heck of non-harsh hop. Nice bitter finish. It’s like not all that bitter, but it’s all that bitter.

Bottle... Mostly clear golden ale with a mid-sized, fizzy, off-white head. The nose presents heaps of honey, crystal and biscuity malts and earthy hops. Well-balanced, earthy flavor. Sweet toffee and bitter, tannic grapefruit roughage. Medium-bodied and lightly creamy with lively carbonation. Crisp, bitter, tongue-numbing (Novocaine-like) finish.

Draft sample at MBGF. Hazy dark amber color with a large frothy off-white head that diminished slowly with fair lacing. Moderate hoppy citrus aroma. Medium body with a slick texture. Medium bitter flavor with a medium bitter finish of short duration.

12oz bottle acquired in trade with Degarth (thanks!). Poured a medium and slightly hazy yellow color with a larger sized head. Aromas of citrus and a little biscuity. Tastes of citrus and a little grassy. Nice grapefruit bitter finish. Thinner body.

Bottle, sampled in May of 2006: Transparent golden bronze color with a thin-lacing white head. Lightly sweet pale malty aroma has a fresh green hoppy aroma with some earthy pine. Starts lightly sweet turning much more bitter and dry toward a mildly earthy bittersweet finish with some floral hoppy character. Needs more body and hops, but otherwise pretty drinkable.

12oz bottle. Pours a proper light orange color with a mostly pure white head. Dry-hopped with cascade, it says, so I knew what to expect, but the nose had more a dryness cheese and bread note than I think it should. Lacks juiciness, oilyness and "dankness" that I crave in good IPA, and the flavor also has this cheese (or foot sweat) and bread (croutons?) note that intruded on the slghtly stale, slightly dry hop flavors. Bitterness was light for IPA, and overall this beer sits in the middle of the road.

My Bottom Line:
Spicy grapefruit-like hoppiness surfs on lean honeyed cereals before a timid buttery smirk surfaces in this drinkable but slightly awkward India Pale Ale.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A slice of foam dwindles into the shiny pale bronze.
-A pleasant peppery, spicy bitterness lingers nicely in the finish.
-The grain bill does not seem to contribute to the hops’ efforts much.
-If it weren’t for that butterscotchy character, we might have had a decent IPA here.

Bottles.