Date: 06/02/2006
Mode: Bottle
Source: Roadtrip

dark clear red, whispy off white head, touch of lace, sweet carmel malt aroma with big grapefruit, creamy body, nice grapefruit flavor, good carmel sweetness, lasting mellow bitter finish, a great creamy session IPA without being over the top

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 8/10; Overall: 15/20
Rating: 3.7/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: ***/4

(12oz bottle) Medium beige head atop clear, dark amber body. Nice lacing. Aroma is medium sweet, grapefruit/pine, resin, caramel, some peach. Taste is moderately sweet, grapefruit, pine, caramel, some peach, hop oil sharpness. Resinous medium body.

Pours a dark copper amber with a thin-lacing, coating of frothy tan head. Aroma of sweet earthy caramel and a touch of piny English hoppiness. First sip is of nice, fairly full-bodied, sweet dark caramel malt giving way to a balanced fresh resiny hoppy bitterness before a bittersweet, slightly warming finish. A pretty good IPA, but could use more aroma hops.

Draft... Clear, deep copper ale with a small, creamy, white head. Grapefruit and floral notes in the nose. The flavor is of a solid, caramel malt backbone with sufficient grapefruit rind and piney hops to tilt things onto the bitter side of balance. Full-bodied and creamy with lively carbonation. Lengthy, bitter finish.

This pours out a deep amber/copper with some red highlights and a modest pale beige head. It smells of fruity malts, caramel, grapefruit, and a bit of pine. The hops aren’t as strong as I would like in the flavor, the ale being overly balanced to the caramel and toffee tastes in my opinion. It finishes on a lingering, mildly bitter citric note.

Thanks to my The LoSBD colleague El_Borracho for the bottle.