HeBrew Bittersweet Lennys R.I.P.A.

Shmaltz Brewing Company
Brewed at Olde Saratoga Brewing (Mendocino Brewing Co.)
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Brooklyn, New York USA

Serve in Shaker, Snifter

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Awesome, one of my favorite styles makes a tribute to ones of my favorite comic minds. Pours a clear amber with a pleasant yellowish tan head. A nice floral aroma of some citrus, pine, bread, alcohol, pineapple and some caramel malt. The flavor is very sweet up front...especially when it warms...caramel malt and bread all the way to the bitter pine and rye combo torwards the end through the finish. Pretty smooth and a bit oily over the tounge with a long bitter ending that kind of lingers around. The booze comes out in a warming way for the most part, but there were times where it came out just a tad too much. Overall though a pretty nice IIPA, even though I wish they would’ve pushed the boundries a bit more...perhaps making it a bit sharper on the tounge.

Aroma is a big dose of malts and hops intermeshed and standing stroung. Body is amber in readily develops a firm thumb thick tan head even in a wine glass. Fore is a luscious dollop of sweet malt and then the toungue is jumped and brutally beaten into submission with hops. A hop heads ideal beer, but woefully out of balance to my palate.

Poured a clear deep amber color with a medium sized long lasting off-white head. Big hoppy aroma dominated by grapefruit and pine. Very nice full hop smell. The flavor hits you with hops first. nice and piney with some malt trying to give balance. Nice warming senasation.

I enjoyed this one at kp’s cellar party. Clear dark amber with a fleeting white head. Grassy hop aroma with some underlying malt. Well balanced with a long bitter finish. Not bad at all.

Bottle... This beer rocks!... Crystal clear, burnt orange ale with ruby highlights and a large, frothy, off-white head. Good, creamy retention. Tons of caramel, tawny port and grist in the nose with lesser notes of chocolate, avacado, maybe evergreen and mango. Solid, beefy, barley malt profile with lots of rich caramel, but it’s no match for the motherload of resinous, astringent hops. Full-bodied with a chewy mouthfeel and lively carbonation. Lengthy, bittersweet finish... mostly bitter. Dries out in the end. World class beer!

The aroma is quite weak considering the nature of this beer. I get slight hints of sweet caramel and maybe a little alcohol. Great appearance on this beer it pours a oily copper color, but has little to no head. This Double I.P.A. definately has the hops, but the Rye MAlt accents the bitterness nicely. It starts off very dry and leads to a little malty sweetness, with slight hints of the 10% ABV, but the malt covers it right up. The mouthfeel is quite nice with a great dryness and amazing stay power. I can still taste it and I haven’t taken a sip for a minute or two. This is another well made beer to follow Jewbilation and accompany 10:10. What a great D.I.P.A.

Last HWOH. I think Beastiefan brought this- so thanks Eugene. Overall, reminded me of a big homebrew DIPA from all the melding of different hops used. Pours a deep dark amber with a nice sticky beige head. Aroma is piney, light mint, sharp herbal and citrus. Flavor has a sharp pronounced clean bittereness and hop flavor rounded out well with tons of different malt complexity. Sweet caramel, light rye twang, and toffee. Smooth body with a nice mouthfeel and finish.

The ale named after the former Leonard Alfred Schneider departs the bottle and enters the glass a robust red, shadowy, clear, with a high head, creamy/tannish toned. Looking lovely. Aroma: Fat malt, outsized yeast, liquid bread...is this a doppelbock? But there’s so much hop!...sniff again... Wow! Loud hop, rich, burnished, barleywine-like. Grapes and other dark fruits are at hand, feeling like a burgundy wine, perhaps due to the high alcohol, or the huge maltiness. Now, let’s taste...Woo! Bam! Whap! Shamalam! Enormous malt floods the mouth and is assisted in it’s it’s efforts by the blazing sidecar of hops. Big, big, big on the palate, outsized all the way, spilling flavor all over the place. Delicious dark fruits, grapes, cherries, more...Reminds me very much of a Bigfoot or similar barleywine-style ales. This is where the line between "American Double IPA"s and barleywines really blurs, the malt is as big or bigger than the hops in this one, and the flavor is almost the match for a barleywine. And the 10% doesn’t hit...right away..oh, no, you’ll feel it, though... I didn’t really taste the rye at all, but it works so damned well, it doesn’t matter. (Wait, ...now, I’m tasting it...yup, it’s discernible...) I love it. I think Lenny would love it. Rest his smutty soul. R.I.P. (A. true American hero.)

At Toronado on Haight and Fillmore - This stuff is excellent, I have no Idea how strong it is, especially considering it is 12pm! I’d guess that it’s in Barley wine teritory, but the Rye and the light body keep this in the IPA range, er DIPA. The Rye is an interesting addition, a nutty wholefoods taste.

Deep ruby. Large, thick, frothy tan head. Gorgeous brew. Aroma of juicy, resinous hops, rye malt, spicy notes, toffee, melons, and just a hint of alcohol. Same flavors with some pine in there, also. Spicy hop and toasty malt aftertaste. Full, creamy palate. Very good brew. Soft and aggressive at the same time. Great with a pizza that has way too much cheese. Top it with pineapples, fresh jalapenos, pancetta, and sliced almonds. Courtesy of RekLaw’s Pizza Kitchen.