Barley Island Barfly IPA

Brewed by Barley Island Brewing
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Noblesville, Indiana USA

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

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Bottle. Pours a clear amber with no head. Hoppy aroma with lots of grapefruit. Piney and citrusy hop flavor with a good malt balance. Medium, almost thin finish.

12 oz bottle from acknud; thanks!!! Nose of lemony hops, light malt, and a background fruitiness; cloudy orange with a big straw head, heavily lacing the glass; flavor has moderate hop bitterness, with a light caramel malt background and some light lemony bitterness for a finish!

2006 bottle from MI2CA drunk on 1/11/07
Can’t figure out the bottling methods of these guys. It says unfiltered/unpasteurized on the bottles, though it dosent say bottle conditioned. The bottle of barrel-aged oatmeal stout was one of the most filtered, watery, loose tasting beers I’ve ever had nor did it have any sediment. This one, howver, has some definite protein dropout, which despite my best efforts got in to my glass, and the very last shot in the bottle (for experimentation) is completely cloudy. The ruby-auburn-tinged caramel body is light on carbonation, though a fair amount of dark beige head does form, showing medium retention and little/no lacing.
Sweet cherries and strawberries in the nose brush against the nose rather coarsely, while leafy, green hop aromatics provide grapefruit and orange rind notes. Definite crystal maltiness sweetens things to a point, then seems to harden and dry out, with light yeast doughiness and moderate breadiness. Every subsequent smell, however, is alive with fresh hop aromatics, fruity esters and balanced, sweet malt, it just seems to suffer on the finish, somewhat. So based on the aroma, I suppose the evidence is in favor of it being unpasteurized at least. We’ll have to leave it to the flavor/texture to determine the rest.
Bittersweet malt and hops collide, with a strong earthiness and tangy grapefruit flavors that both give way to a ruby red grapefruit sweetness mixed with cherries and moderate herbal notes. Whatever the medium malt being used, it comes across clearly and quite well. The caramel-toffee sweetness is well matched and for once some hop acidity is much appreciated in balancing it. Mostly substantial texture, with moderately engaging carbonation. Ok, I’ll buy that this stuff is lightly to not filtered and just conditioned well. Not sure on the carbonation, I suspect it’s forced, but that’s ok, I’ll let them off the hook for that. It comes across well enough.

Pours a dark gold, hints of copper. Light tan head, ok retention, not much lacing...The aroma was really nice, lots of orange, super sweet, nots of pine and caramel on the finish...The taste was really nice. It was sweet enough to make it drinkable but balanced by some nice hops light pine. Overall, a super solid ipa, worth trying but not actively seeking out.

Super fruity, caramel and hop aroma. Woody, hoppy, English cast. Some butte, pretty bitter. FInish is a bit clingy. Bottle, McNiven’s, Indianapolis.

Bottle courtesy of thirdeye11. Light orange pour. A bit of hops on the aroma. Smell has a bit of BO to it. Taste is heavy on the hops with some musty hop taste as well. Interesting.

Dark amber color with clinging and long-lasting off-white head; lots of sediment in my glass too. Lots of pine, some orange (not so much grapefruit to me); decent aroma. The flavor is more ambiguous, with a lot of malt backbone, but giving it a mix of vegetation, beer-stained carpet, and smoker’s breath. Moderate astringency, long-lasting bitterness, not to my preferences. Decent carbonation and body support. Halfway through my glass I ate a slice of watermelon--note to self: IPA and watermelon do not mix.

BottleSmall white fizzy head that was mostly lasting, decent amount of lacing, visible carbonation, hazy, and an orange brown hue. Nose was sweet, caramel, malty, citrusy, grapefruit, and hops. Flavor was malty, caramel, sweet, and hoppy. Nicely done. Mouthfeel was hoppy. Medium body. Very drinkable and worthy of a try.

Bottle at decaturstevo’s Februmergency Tasting for those of us that missed out on Sexual Chocolate ’09 thanks to decaturstevo. Semi-clear amber pour with thin white head. Nose is light hop with an oatmeal quality that is nicely balanced. Flavor tends toward the hops with some bittering. Enjoyable enough i suppose.

Sampled with Beerdrenched. Pours hazy orange / bronze with a smallish eggshell white head. The aroma has lots of floral / grapefruit hops - not too much more to the aroma, but the hops are great. Medium body with some soft carbonation. Taste has woody / pine hops with enough caramel malt to lightly balance out. The finish has dry woodiness. Very enjoyable IPA.