Full Sail Wreck the Halls

Big citrus — grapefruit — aroma with a note of pine. The flavor was 99 percent hops. It started with floral hops with an medium perfume tone. But that flavor gave way to grapefruit and pine. The malt is hardly detectable. The finish was pleasantly bitter. Overall, a bit above average.

Pours a nice reddish brown. Big hoppy aroma. Flavor is hops and spice with some smokey flavor.

Grapefruit nose, copper color with nice head. Flavors of grassy and citrus. Nice mouth feel, and well balanced with malt that has a slight roast to it. Nice clean hoppy finish.

22 oz bottle. Deep copper-orange beer with a thick white head. Fresh hoppy aroma, a bit of grassy fresh hop aroma. Big piny/spicy hops. Underneath the hops is a nice sweet bready/spicy hop malt character. Beg sweet chewy malts in the front, caramel, bread, biscuit with big spicy hop flavour. Lingering pine comes out after the spicy/sweet malts. Fresh herbal hop aroma retronasally. Great balance, piny and citrusy hops. Awesome seasonal beer.

citrusy and fruity, well balanced with cripsy malts, sweet ,golden copper hue with a thin lacey white head, all and all pretty good, the last beer after a night of battle, happy 21st Samuel George Robertson Jones!

Noticable alcohol in nose in a beer less than 8% gets points deducted in my book. Other than that it is a fairly average IPA. Ruby/amber color, no head, sweet crystal malt aroma medicinal hops. Medium bitterness. Not very memorable.

2005, from the bottle

Pours a clear dark orange with an adequate head. The aroma is an intriguing blend of hops that left me eager to taste - but the taste was a letdown. Aggressive roasted malts compete with rather than complement a fairly nice hop profile; more troubling, the beer is somewhat sticky with a notes of cherry Robitussin. Not a standout, and probably not worth revisiting.

Bright middle of the road amber colour. A bit of apricot and hints of leafy hops alongside slightly toasty malts in the aroma. There’s a surprisingly bold mint note as well. The palate is certainly hoppier than the aroma hinted, with moderate bitterness and earthy, foresty accents (and lots of mint, still). Balancing malts have a slightly toasty accent. Alcohol comes in late, with a dull thud rather than hot or peppery, which I might have enjoyed. OK, so it’s not a masterpiece, but it’s a competent hoppy ale that is aimed squarely at Full Sail’s existing audience.