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 Snifter, Tulip

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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.)

Bottle: pours a beautiful smooth caramel color with a thick cream colored head that leaves a nice heavy lace. Grassy, citrusy aromas, maybe some herbal notes. Flavors are pine, bread, earthy. It’s got a lot going on. Mouthfeel is nice... It coats your mouth and leaves you a few minutes to appreciate this tasty beer. Good stuff!

Bottle. Pours golden brown with a high, fine-grained head. The nose is amazing -- smoke, citrus, maple, and herbal notes that I can smell all the way across the desk. On the front of the palate there’s some orangey sweetness -- and then the bitterness smacks you upside the head. Still very well balanced, though, with definite caramel notes on the close. Mouthfeel so rich it’s almost a barleywine. Wow.

Deep red/brown pour with tall offwhite head, an inch thick at least. Bitter hoppy piney scent. Nice. Thick mouth feel. Appropriate carbonation. Lots of malt flavor, a little less on hops but evident nonetheless. Alcohol content apparent on finish leaving mouth a bit dry.

Aroma is hops, pine, malts, and citrus. Pours a dark amber with a big white head and some lacing. Taste is hops, pine, and malts with a good alcohol warming aftertaste. Very good.

Strong beer, overbearing malts and even more hops! Lots of citrus and pine. Not horrible but I wouldn’t buy it again.

12oz bottle. Pours a dark amber with a creamy off white head and plenty of lacing throughout. One of the better rye beers out there and it definitely packs a wallop with that high abv.

This is a really, really good R.I.P.A.-- my favorite. For me, the downfall of many RIPAs is they just get too thick, too syrupy, when they add the rye bite to the existing hoppiness. This one avoids that issue altogether, and blows your hair back in the process. The flavor is so complex it is very hard to describe-- sweet with the sour, light with the heavy, delicate with the harsh. Great beer. My only beef is it’s so strong and so heavy that it does limit drinkability.

Pours a dark copper color from the bottle with a nice tan head and moderate lacing. Smell is intense, malty up front from the rye and a bit of piney hops. Taste is sweet on the front end, then bitter, with a clean, slightly alcoholic finish. Decently balanced, but the bitterness stays. Good, but a bit overwhelming.

On tap at The Common Table. Pours a dark reddish amber with a thin off white head. The aromas are musk, light citrus. The mouthfeel is dry, sticky and has a heavy body and good carbonation. Cheers!

Not much of a smell has a decent bitterness, the taste is not that complex and the after taste isn't that pleasant. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone