HeBrew Bittersweet Lennys R.I.P.A

medium sized aroma with prominent citric hoppiness and malt with more subtle piney notes. pours clear amber with a small white head. starts with a sweet malty front. moves to dominating citric hoppines. finishes with the same hoppiness. some slightly piney notes. but small and slightly unbalanced. simple finish but substantial mouthfeel.

22 oz bottle. Pours an interesting dark amber with a subtle red hue. Nice bold frothy head with huge slow moving bubbles that turns into medium carbonation. Frankly, I was expecting a bigger hop aroma since it was dry hopped, but the malt and rye overpower any hop nose. The taste is wonderfully complex, citrus notes, pine, malt, and of course you can pick out the rye flavor. I like the addition of rye malt, worked out well. Nice smooth bitterness at the end. If I was to say one negative thing about this beer, it would have to be that the hop bitterness was not the focus, which is what I expect for an DIPA, other than that, great brew.

Bottle. Deep garnet colored beer, clear. Nice light beige colored head with great lacing. Aroma is mainly sweetish and malty, if the hops are there they are lost. Medium to full bodied, nice carbonation. Sweetness up front, plenty of IBU’s to balance. Towards the finish a dry peppery tone. A touch sharp with the hop flavor in the finish. Really a pretty decent beer, nice concept with the rye, fairly executed.

extremely dark red for a DIPA. great thick head and nice lacing. super bitter, but became balanced and pretty good.

In addition to the rye, this beer has a great, complex malty base. The hops are wonderfully abrasive, piney, earthy, and lingering. I can’t decide whether I like the simple malt billed DIPA’s that showcase the hops only, or a complex beer with a large hop aroma, flavor and bitterness (More of an american barleywine, this is 10% ABV). This is one of the of the latter camp. This is one I am glad I tried again after being unimpressed with it at GABF. Maybe it is tough to judge a beers merits in 1-2oz pours and after several beers as opposed to drink a 22 all by one’s self.

Pours dark copper, slightly cloudy with a soft khaki head. The hops in this beer overwhelm the senses, so strong that your next few breaths of fresh air you have to try to remember what things used to smell like without hops. BIg citrus grapefruit, bales of pine needles, the rye is buried under all the hops. Starts sweet, warm caramel, slightly fruity notes, and finally.. oh there is the rye. Herbal and earthy at times, citrus candy at other times, pure pinetree when you least expect it. Very bold beer with a very big character.

Great looking pour, a reddish-orange body with a Huge off-white head that coated the glass with thick lacing. This thick DIPA has quite a strong grapefruit and pine aroma with some fruit flavored caramel that works its way out once the head subsides somewhat. The flavor is big but more balanced than the aroma, the caramel becoming almost chewy. There’s still plenty of hop bitterness, but the malt tones it down. Both peppery and bitter on the tongue, the finish is a decent (to a hop-head) amount of grapefruit and earthy bitterness. Not bad at all.

For some reason I think there’s probably very few on the site who know who Lenny Bruce is, let alone remember him at all. Still, a solid tribute to the man.

<font size=-4><a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp?PlaceID=1120>United Liquors, Frankfort, IL<font size=-1>

Bottle. Pours a ruby copper body with a small white head. Strong Ale-like aroma consisting of resinous grapefruit hops and dark sugar caramel. Bitter flavour with lots of bread astringency and alcohol. The finish is a tad rough due to the heat but there are some positive bitter rind flavours. Maybe a bit TOO over the top.