Karl Strauss Star of India Pale Ale

Formerly brewed at Karl Strauss Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
San Diego, California USA

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

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Small head atop of a clear bronz with a strange nose full of bathroom soap, flowers, and grapefruits..the flavors took a citrus hop stance..very clean and balanced!

500 ml schooner glass at the Karl Strauss in LAX. Pour is slight haze golden orange copper with a smallish off white head that falls with some light lacing. Aroma is citrus fruit hop, big, mildly sweet clean. Some toastiness from the malt behind that. Taste is the hops, citrus fruit up front, nice mineral earthiness through the finish. All throughout, the toasted malt balances the hop out. Palate is light bodied, decent carbonation, finish is mellowed out by a bit of wateriness. Decent enough for an airport bar.

Served cold from tap at Universal Studios brewery. It wasn’t nearly as hoppy as it should have been for an IPA, it had a very nice finish though. Poured clear amber with a thin white head, leaving trace amonunts of lacing. Aroma was somewhat weak and hoppy. Taste was middle of the road.

Draft. Seemed a little closer to a regular PA than IPA, but it’s not bad. I expected very little since the only other Karl Strauss beer I’ve ever had was their Oktober fest. A decent amount of floral hops, could be more assertive.

The head of this beer sticks around forever. All the way down the glass. Pretty impressive. Serious hoppy citrus nose. Hoppy flavors dominate the beer, and hang around in your mouth long after you’re done.

Clear light amber/copper coloured body with a thin white head. Assertive west-coast hops in the nose-some floral-some citrusey. Medium-bodied; Strong hops up front with little else following behind. Bitter floral hops resent with an adequate malt backbone. Aftertaste plain & bitter-not too great. Overall, a decent IPA-good for a layover before Australia! I sampled this beer on draught at the Karl Strauss Brewpub in Terminal 7 at LAX after a flight from Washington and before our flight to Sydney. This was sampled on 31-May-2004.

Sampled draught at LAX airport.
Clear amber, small creamy head. Grapefruity hop aroma. Clean malt profile, loads of cascade hops. Soapy, grapefruity finish with good bitterness.

This beer has a huge hoppy nose. I could smell it when he was pouring out of the tap across the bar from me. It smells like hops and nothing else, it tastes like hops and nothing else. Strangely there is no bitterness. This beer is also lacking any kind of malt to balance the taste and lacking body as well. It tastes like they just dry hopped a keg of carbonated water. Good to try if you like hops because thats all you can really taste.

Draft. Orangeish gold, hard to comment on the head as it seemed to be gone when it was served. Aroma is fruity malt and hoppy. Seems like an APA with a bit more cascade hops. Overall not bad too and quite drinkable, especially when it’s the best choice at one of your favorite restaurants.

On tap at Disneyland’s California Adventure, pours a medium-yellow with small head. Aroma is more of malt than hops. Medium-bodied, I could hardly taste any hops at all. The low alcohol content does not help. Pretty weak and tame for an IPA. Dissapointing.

(Draft: Yard House in San Diego, CA) Moderately malty, but it’s fairly sweet and sugar until the finish when a slightly tart, bitter grapefruit rind flavor takes over; It’s moderately bitter, but never actually hoppy; Medium bodied; Almost no nose, very light hoppy aroma, and for an IPA, that’s criminal; Ligth amber color; Off-white head settles to a thin layer, but the dense, thin blacket of lacing is excellent