3.8 AROMA 9/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
Cold in a pint glass. Pours a beautiful red color with a small head that quickly gives way to lingering lacing. The nose is all fresh hops with a nice hint of orange/grapefruit. Has a malty start and strong bitter IPA finish that lingers as a seedy/bitter bite beyond the innate bitterness of the hops. I think it could do with more malt to balance the finish but I did like it overall. It has good mouth feel but the seed like bitterness could be improved. Its an interesting beer that I would get again but it would be a bad choice for your first IPA. On the other hand, if you like IPAs, its an interesting departure from the usual.
4.1 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 17/20
Bottle at Rick’s Sports bar. Ok, this beer to me is a classic example of "never judge a book by it’s cover". I’ve seen this beer in several bottle shops and bars over the years, looked at it and always chose something else. My reason ? I thought the name and label design were both cheesy and too commercial looking. Fast forward to 2010. I’ve been aquiring several of the Excelsior series of beer over the last few months because of the raves about them. When I saw this the other night, I figured I was long overdue to try this. Pour is amber with touches of red, aroma is pine, hops, grapefruit, malt. Flavor profile is really well balanced, just the right amounts of juicy hops and malt. Finsh is slightly bitter. Wow ! Now I’m mad I didn’t try this years ago, a really well done IPA, this one will go into my case rotation to have on hand.
3.1 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 13/20
bottle pours a murky brown with a small offwhite head. Aroma of bread, prunes, grapefruit, dough, and a little booze. A little too bready. Bottle was probably past its prime. Oh well.
3.3 AROMA 3/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 17/20
Bottle, pours brown with a fluffy tan head. Aroma, is soft, pine hops some malt a little bready. Taste is malty with some fruity sweetness with some floral under tones. Smooth dry finish with hop flavor that lingers
3.8 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 15/20
Amber with a thin white head. Balanced nose of fresh pine and biscuit. Flavor is similar with earthy pine, biscuit, and some sweet orange. Thin and salty but very balanced and rather enjoyable, particularly as the fresh hop is allowed to shine in comparison to the balanced malt.
3.6 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20
Bottle thanks to thirdeye11. Red orange in color with a small off-white head. Aroma is of grass and hops with some spiciness. Taste is of grass and hops.
4.7 AROMA 10/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 10/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 18/20
(drought at Eli Cannon’s in Middletown CT, "monster amounts of Cascade hops", 6.5%)
very nice fruity and floral hop flavor, cascade hops very noticeable as a sweet orange/citrus flavor but not citrus-seed-bitter, the most drinkable very-cascade-hoppy beer i’ve had at 250 ratings.
3.5 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 13/20
12 oz bottle. Poured a deep red with a foamy light beige head. Aroma was lots of caramel, oranges, slight hint of chocolate and grapefruit. The flavor is sweeter then the aroma implies with lots of caramel and slight chocolate, lots of citrus including rinds and grainy bread crusts. Solid beer but this is supposed to be an IPA, seemed more like a hoppy red to me.
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