HeBrew Bittersweet Lennys R.I.P.A

Shmaltz Brewing Company
Brewed at Olde Saratoga Brewing (Mendocino Brewing Co.)
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
San Francisco, California USA

22oz Bottle from Hi Time Cellar. Clear copper pour, not much head. Sweet, fruity aroma blended with alcohol, hops are in the background. The Rye malt comes through to aid in the bitterness, but in a good way. The residual sweetness is controlled for a good balance, finishes better and sugary. I would almost categorize this as a barley wine, but then many DIPAs fit into that slot. A very well made and enjoyable, very strong brew, I like it.

Pours a cloudy, dark ruby, copper color with a creamy, average, off-white head; it settles to a creamy, frothy layer and leaves some nice lace. Nose is nice but quite simple and a little faint; lots of grapefruit and lemon zest with light bready notes (rye?), light caramels, and some resins. Flavor is nice with initial notes of pink grapefruit and sweet caramels, then the minor notes fill in with some grains (mostly rye), light dired apricots, and some pine towards the finish. Palate is fitting being lively, sticky, moderate body, and velvety. Finishes with the moderately high bitterness at its peak with some lingering pine resins, light grapefruit and a rye note left in my mouth. A nice IIPA with a good rye base, an interesting twist on the style. Nothing overly complex but fairly well built.

Green Dragon Pub NYE 07 with Bikesandbeer and his gf Jessi. Draft. @ Green Dragon Pub in Portland Oregon. Pours dark brown with a thin bright white ring. Nose of rye and a hint of smoke. Strong sweet and sugary taste. Pretty decent.

Pours a hazy dark copper with a huge tan head. Strong malt, caramel and hop aromas. Strong malty caramel taste dominates at first followed by lots of hops. The rye malts add a flavor I have never had before. Kind of a funky taste. Not sure if I like it or not. The body is meduim-full and syrupy. The alcohol is only slightly noticeable. Decent beer but definately not one of favorites.

Pours a beautiful translucent ruby/tangerine color with a sparkling white head. Sweet malt aroma. taste is spicy rye and strong hop. Starts out thick but yields to a pleasant lingering bitterness. Great balance of strong flavors in an extremely affordable bottle.

Strong malt and hop aroma. Hazy dark orange color with a small white head. Malty beginning with a light bitter finish. Creamy palate. Slight alcohol burn.

THOUGHTS: I like some rye beers, but at first I thought the rye in this one took away from the flavor a little, but it was still a great beer. It just might have been perfect without the rye. But then the full flavor asserted itself once it settled. A really nice double IPA with a twist. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a clear, dark reddish brown to amber with a small to average, sudsy, off white head, that slowly diminished and left fair to good lacing. The aroma was moderate caramel, lighter rye, heavy citrus (grapefruit and lemon) hops and light alcohol. The initial flavor was moderately sweet and lightly acidic, while the finish was moderately to heavily sweet, lightly acidic, heavily bitter and slightly sour with a long duration. The flavor was caramel malt and much more rye than the aroma then lots of citrus hops. Nice balance but could have a slightly better transition. The medium to full body was sort of in between creamy and syrupy with rather fizzy carbonation and a slightly metallic, lightly astringent and lightly alcoholic finish.

Why the hell do I not have a rating for this? Don’t you hate when you’ve had a lot of a particular beer and you never rate it? Nice piny, citrus, fruity aroma with hints of sugary sweetness. Taste is sweet caramel, touches of rye graininess, and hoppy citrus with a piny finish. Palate-wise, the beer is big and malty, full-bodied, but with a lot of astringent bitterness and some caramel, the hops dominate. Overall, very nice beer, well-balanced and would age well. Still, by style, not the best example I think.