Ipswich 20th Anniversary Imperial Pale Ale

Brewed by Ipswich Ale Brewery
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Ipswich, Massachusetts USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip

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Amber-orange pour with an off white head. Aroma is malt and hops. Very hoppy, sweet and sticky taste that dominates the flavor. Nice lacing on the glass. Good beer.

22oz bottle from Crossroads Beer and Wine, Burlington, MA. Cloudy amber with a ring of off-white head; sweet, orangey, citrus aroma; prickly in the mouth with more orange citrus flavours over a grainy body and with a immediate dry resinous bitterness that is maintained to the end; leaving a grapefruit finish. Rather disappointing overall.

22oz. Bottle: Aroma of malt, doughnuts, light orange, some leaves, and some hops. Poured dark amber/orange in color with a small, off-white head that disappeared except for around the edges. Cloudy. Sparkling. Full of tons of small, medium, and large, sized, particles throughout. Flavor is medium sweet and medium bitter. Tastes of malt, hops, citrus, slight resin, and some fruit. Medium body. Slick, then dry texture. Average carbonation. Medium sweet, medium bitter, malt, hop, caramel finish. 8%ABV is completely hidden throughout.

From the bomber this poured a slightly hazed copper/orange body, lively with carbonation, and capped with a sustained three-fingered head. Lots of thick lacework. The aroma had an underlying malty sweetness, caramel like, but that was nearly smothered by the hops - earth, lemon zest, yellow grapefruit, and a touch of pine. The caramel was a tad stronger in the flavor, but was outweighed by the hop bitterness and flavors, mainly the zest and grapefruit with a smattering of earthiness. It finished on a dry prolonged note of zest and rind bitterness. Not bad.

Like any double pale ale out there that is malt-forward, it just ends up sucking.

Shared a 22 oz bottle with LiveFREEorRYE. Used a snifter. A nice hazy orange with lots of floating particles in the liquid. Sheets of lacing all the way down, with nice thick full white head. Pleasing blend of wet hops on the nose. Taste is a perfect balance of sweet malt and big hope profile. Grapefruit, pine and European hops. Nice tones of malt makes your thirst for more. Excellent brew, if you see it, pick up a bottle before it is gone. Nice!

22oz bottle thanks to AirForceHops . Poured into a snifter. The appearance is a cloudy orange with a small amount of floating sediment. More than likely from dry-hoping? There was not a ton of head although good lacing. The scent is amazing, floral grape-fruit hops and I could smell a bit of caramel malt. The taste is very hoppy and citrusy but balanced very well by the malt. The finish is clean. Really reminds me of an highly hopped English pale ale.

Opaque orange with small tan head. Really nice aroma of grapefruit, pine, background of caramel. Medium-full body, a little carbonation, minimal alcohol. Flavor orange/grapefruit hops, some grain and malt flavors that somehow rather than providing balance distract from the bitterness. Fairly decent but a little too gloppy and flavors don’t quite live up to the aroma.

(22 oz. bottle from Ipswich Beverage) Pours cloudy orange-amber with a couple of fingers of lightly-orangish off-white head. Aroma of grapefruit and a bit of pine over vanilla and caramel. Mouthfeel hefty, lightly prickly, good and strong. Lots of big, scraggly lacing left behind as typical for a highly-hopped beer. Flavor of grapefruit and light pine, bold but not abrasive, over sweet malty caramel and vanilla. Little hint of sweat. A nice, easy-drinking big IPA. I didn’t notice any big flaws.

The bottle caught my eye the other day. Pours a cloudy orange amber color with a two finger fluffy/bubbly white head that recedes slowly but leaves lots of sticky lace all the way down. Smells of citrus and pine mostly. I can’t find much in the way of malt but I do pick up a hint of garlic. Bready toasty flavor up front before the hops dig in. Lots of pine and garlic or onion and a bit of citrus. Bready almost caramel malt sweetness comeback midway until the piney hops come back for the finale. Medium body and carbonation level with a resinous bitter mouthfeel. Good beer, not great. Seems one dimensional and a little bit boring but grew on me after a while.