Big Time Bhagwans Best IPA

Brewed by Big Time Brewery
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Seattle, Washington USA

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

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Pale yellow color with small white head. Aroma full of sharp, citrusy hops. Flavor has a hint of roasted malt early on, with lolts of citrusy, grassy hops, and a significant bitterness in the finish.

On tap at the brewery. Hazy orange/yellow beer with a thin off-white head. Nice hoppy, resiny and citrusy aroma. Flavour is also well-balanced, sweet citrusy hops, a lot of resin over a clean pale malt backbone. A faint hint of light crystal adding some body. A straight-forward, well crafted IPA.

(22 oz bottle: $4.25 at Big Time Brewery in Seattle, WA) The nose shows sweet citrus, a little mustiness, some light caramel and tea, and faint alcohol, but it’s not all that hoppy, and definitely not typical of IPAs. Quite sweet on the tongue, lightly caramely, fairly obvious orange citrus, some tea, with a strongly floral, moderately bitter and grapefruity hoppiness, and a noticeably alcoholic finish. Medium bodied, and though not sticky, it’s getting there, almost cloyingly sweet for an IPA. Golden amber in color and slightly cloudy in appearance despite leaving the densely packed layer of yeast in the bottle. Off-white head pours very small, barely rising above a thin film, but it does leave a few dots of lace on the glass. Overall, it’s a pleasant and very flavorful beer, and I like it a lot, but the sweetness is too dominant, and this beer is quite a departure from the typical IPA.

22 oz. bomber, shared by DarkElf in the wake of his NW brewery tour. Pours a beautiful, peach and tangerine color with virtually no head. Aroma is sweet citrus and summer fruts, earthy hops and herby floral notes. Sweet, lightly caramel malts, lots of tart and bitter hoppiness, lemon peel, spruce a pinch of spice and surprisingly noticible alcohol. Medium body, mellow carbonation and a little flat.

UPDATED: MAY 9, 2008 On tap at the Big Time brewery

For me, this is a benchmark IPA in the sweeter PacNW style.

The beer pours a slightly cloudy amber with a smaller head but magnificant lacing. The aroma is citrus and pine with floral tones; the flavor is a full and rich and superbly balanced mix of pine and critrus peel hops with ample malts to round it out and a orange muscat sweetness. The mouthfeel is spot on, very full without being in any way too rich to hinder the drinkability of this beer. The finish is a lovely but not overwhelming hop bitterness. Excellent!

Oh, and on cask, it’s even better.

5/8/08 Dry-hopped version on cask. Gotta admit I’m a little disappointed. The dry-hopping was not so much in evidence and in general the hop flavors simply failed to erupt as they should have. His this one taken a turn for the worse in the past year?

Not half bad, good for the IPA business crowd (I’m talking to you, random Republican guy I met in the bar).

On tap and on cask. Lightly hazy golden amber. Big fluffy head. Dry hop aroma. Honey touch in the finish. Mouth drying subtle hops.

Pours a lightly hazy copper orange with a thin, lightly-lacing off-white head. Light caramel malty aroma has a nice, subtle piney hop presence. Body starts with a lightly malty and bready presence, with some hop resin and turning drier toward the green finish. Nice, well-balanced, drinkable IPA. Thanks to Larry Pitonka for the bottle!

This one has all the college-town craftiness that is expected - right down to the dorm-room quality label. The citrus aroma is a little soft in the bottled version. I’m sure the dry-hopped version is different. There is an english element with the flavor having a little caramel, but also some mixed fruit - funky and good. Finish is mid-way between sweet and dry. The resin on the tongue is distinctly PNW. Thanks CaptainCougar and Larry Pitonka.

Golden amber color with a small white head. Aroma full of you average IPA notes, pine, hops, citrus, flowers. Taste is simialr but with a hints of wonderful fruit. Very descent IPA indeed. Props to Oakes for this extra, that I otherwise would have probably never tried.