Big Sky IPA

Brewed by Big Sky Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Missoula, Montana USA

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

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Got this on a recommendation..I had found almost all Big Sky bers to be rather middle of the road before. Its a good looking ale, but really does not look anything like a "regular" IPA. Its a dark clear amber with a large frothy/rocky eggshell white head. Massive aroma of piney, juicy hoppiness! A litle spicy too. Taste is dominated almost immediatlly by a firm, juicy, full hop force, spruce tips and pink grapfruit, peppery..the malts are barelly noticed, not very balanced, but sometimes I like it that way. Its kind of fades after a few sips and the palate becomes slightly watery. A strange beer from Big Sky..after numerous timid beers they unleash one..trouble is although I liked it it was TOO extreme in the hop department. This needs a little work but could be a good IPA.

Bottled. Beer is a clear, amber-copper-brown color with an average-sized, frothy, off-white, mostly and quickly diminishing head. The aroma is malty with moderate notes of sweet caramel and toasted grain; Hoppy with heavy notes of resin/pine, moderate notes of dried apricot, herb; Yeasty with a trace of basement; Trace miscellaneous note of plastic. The flavor is moderately-to-heavily bitter (in a strange, pointy way), moderately sweet, with an average-length, lightly sweet, moderately bitter finish. Finishing grip is unrelenting. The body is medium, the texture is velvety and the carbonation is lively.

Head is initially average sized, frothy, off-white, mostly diminishing. Body is dark amber. Aroma is lightly malty (toasted grain), moderately hoppy (grapefruit, resin, apricot), lightly yeasty (dough). Flavor is lightly to moderately sweet, moderately acidic, moderately bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, moderately acidic, moderately to heavily bitter. Medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation. Overly bitter.

Tap @ Dog & Grog Virginia City. Clear golden. This IPA was quite dry with a decent hop bitterness and bite. Nice resinious, fresh hop flavor but a bit unbalanced towards the hops & bitterness, without enough malt. A bit thin on the body. It’s unique dryness, and bitterness gets it a 3.5 with me. After reading some of the other rates I wonder if this is the same IPA?

The aroma was good with a little bit of pine scent. It had a dark amber color with a carmel colored head. It was a really smooth IPA with what seemed to be a little smokey flavor to it. It wasn’t bad, but didn’t have the normal bitter IPA bite that I love.

UPDATED: JUL 15, 2006 Bottle: Fiery copper, moderate to large foamy off-white head, mild carbonation, fairly nice lacing, looks good from here.   Aroma of hops, some citrus peel, and pine.   Sharp, yet refrained hop bite on first sip.   Pleasant soft malt backbone, with a finishing of pine and citrus.   Moderate body and mouthfeel, but fairly smooth.   Good offering from Matt Long and the rest of his crew.   I can dig it!

Bottle; Aroma definatly has a stong pine scent. Amber body with off white decent head and some lacing. Flavor has a dominate pink grapefruit flavor. Malt mix keeps this from being too sweet. Grapefruit aftertaste on palate cool and refreshing beer.

Great aroma, pine, fruit and sticky hops. A resinous hop presense lingers on the pallet just long enough for a clean bitter finish. This is a great IPA that is glorious on draft and still holds up in the bottle.

Bottle. Pours amber in color with a creamy tan head that lingers. Pine in the aroma along with a sweetness. A little sweetness and a lot fo grapefruit taste up front. Very clean and crisp with a nice hop finish, but no aftertaste. Great for the summer.

A nice fresh grapefruit IPA, very fruity with nice summery easy-going hop taste, not overly aggresive, but tasteful and refreshing. Nice quick sweetness up front to prepare the palate again for the hops, keeping each sip new again.