Butte Creek Organic India Pale Ale

Brewed by Butte Creek Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Chico, California USA

I had never seen this so I thought why not try a new IPA. The colro was amber-orange and cloudy. The head was white and decent sized. The smell was almost all malt, no hops. The taste was a little metallic and very malty. I don;t know why they claim the hops are BIG on the label, this was not a hoppy beer. Maybe I got an old one or something. Oh well. Serving type: bottle Reviewed on: 03-27-2007 16:03:37

Nice dark brown color, that has a hazy,cloudy pour with a nice subtle off white foam that sits around the rim. The aroma is hoppy and earthy. The taste is smooth and bitter.

My Bottom Line:
Slightly muddled caramelized cereals appear heavy alongside citrusy and floral hops, before a resinous and spicy bitterness takes over for the long run.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A veil of foam skirts the murky dull amber.
-The malts are also a tad biscuity.
-The finishing hop bitterness is also reminiscent of algae.
-The mouthfeel is not very crisp and thus not drinkable as it could be.
-Carbonation feels fizzy despite the body’s heft.
-This is just too dextrinous and incohesive to be really enjoyable.

Bottle.

Bottle:   Fiery amber, clear, moderate sized frothy head, off-white, decent lacing.   Earthy nose, musty, grainy, husky, with very little hop aspects.   Pretty much what I expected.   Certainly soily on the tongue, malt like bitterness, if that makes sense, dry, with very little to do with hops.   The bitterness seems malt sided, or perhaps a little chemical like.   Body and mouthfeel are moderate.   Finish yields some very husky/grainy flavors, with lingering soil and earth.   This one just doesn’t do it for me.

Aroma is quite strong and hoppy with a slight citrus undertone. It pours a nice clear orange-gold amber with a fairly thick off-white head. Flavor is strongly hoppy and quite bitter, but nastily rather than pleasantly so. There is also a tinny tone. I hope this bottle came from a bum batch! Texture is a bit thin and watery, and the finish is nastily bitter and metallic.

Pours slight hazy orange with thin white head that doesn’t retain long. Nose is fresh peach pit and orange peel. Some candied fruit aromas are present as well. Palate is maltier than expected, with tangerine & grapefruit tartness coming through. Finish is very acidic & sharp. Medium to light bodied.

Pretty average (at best) for an IPA. Seemed really light in the hops department for an IPA. Maybe a pale ale would be a better description, but then again the ABV is fairly high. The beer really just didn’t do much in either the aroma and taste, while it looks really nice in my chalice. Aroma is faint hops, light caramel malts, a touch soapy with hard to mistake bready note. Flavor has some really mild piney hops going for it, some light caramel malts...just really seemed like a watery IPA or something that between a pale ale and an IPA. I dunno. Pretty forgettable.

Draught@SBWF2009. Amber colour, small white head. Aroma is fruits, wood, some grains as well as some mild vegetably and grassy notes as well. Flavour is rains, vegetables, some fruity hops.