Ipswich Dark Ale

Brewed by Ipswich Ale Brewery
Style: Brown Ale
Ipswich, Massachusetts USA

Serve in Dimpled mug, Shaker

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Poured a dark, ruby red with a small white head. Not much retention but silky lacings persisted throughout. Nice hoppy/malt aroma with a medium fizzy palate that ends slightly dry. Flavor of malt (slight hints of roasted malt) and bitter hops that linger in the aftertaste. A respectable interpretation of the style, while I felt the flavor could have been more complex.

Pours mahogany into a shaker. Conglomerate head that retains with slight lacing. Caramel notes. Creamy with a bitter lasting finish.

orange brown in color. roasty flavors with bits of cocoa and a nice bitter hoppy aftertaste on the palate. Ispwich puts out great ales, and this is one of them. very drinkable.

UPDATED: DEC 30, 2005 Orange reflects trail over the deep shaded brown body. It forms a nice 1-inch cover that diminishes, but lasts congruously and not without lacing. A gratifying nose of fresh ingredients shows a remarkable natural balance. Well blended leafy, minty, woody hops enliven the delicate malts creating nut oils, soil/root and fruit (hard to pick out individual subspecies) flavors. Harmonious mouth deployment, the roastiness growing to contentment towards the finish, overshadowing the initial caramelly feel and limiting apparent sweetness by a comfortable dose of bitterness. Very well produced, it escapes all the traps (astringence avoided by a well rounded, soft mouthfeel accentuated by engaging carbonation, no metallic nor mineral character but a subtle hop derived saltiness, nor over-agressive bitterness/acidity/sweetness). Dangerously easy to drink, this is a long distance runner that watches for the tight corners.

Bottle: Brown, neither light nor dark but somewhat muddy, large light beige frothy head, multiple spires of lacing.   Lightly sour malt based aroma, seems like it might also have aspects of really dry cocoa.   Semi-sweet cocoa up front, fairly malty, mildly roasted, chocolate malt perhaps.   Soft hop backside, lingering cocoa, light sweetness, slightly dry.   Body is fairly big, mouthfeel is mediocre.   Thanks Clark for the freebie!

Pours deep brown with a tiny tan head. Great lacing for a brown. Aroma is light chocolate malt. Taste is malty, chocolate and even hoppy. Great texture. nice roasted aftertaste. great stuff.

Bottle. Nice American style brown ale. By American i mean more hoppy. Nice light caramel/choc/roasted malt, some light nutty characters. Flowery hops in the finish, nice length of flavour, while being quite light, nice.

pourted a briownishh red color no head. really sweat aroma chocolate, caramel and cinnamon. kinda warery.

Bottle, from Julio’s. Ok nose, sweet. Kinda nutty, caramel, hints of cinnamon, a little plum. Hazy orangy dark brown color, good head that faded quickly. Sweet flavors, caramel, chocolate, nutty, roasty. Medium body, greamy mouthfeel. Bitter roast finish. Thought it warmed up nicely, roasted flavor got better and better. Another old time favorite from Ipswich.

Pours a hazy dark ruby with thick lacy tan head. Very light fruity and spicy aromas. Smells fruity and spicy but very light aromas. Taste is much better than the aroma. Smoky and burnt malt. Very bitter but creamy too. Chocolatey with a surprisingly strong taste of bitter hops in there too. Very unusual and very tasty. Dark and smooth. Creamy mouthfell witha smoky bitter aftertaste. Yet another very good offering from Ipswich. I love them all thus far.