Midnight Sun Sockeye Red IPA

Brewed by Midnight Sun Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Anchorage, Alaska USA

22 oz bottle. Very fizzy pour. Clear medium orange color. Head was sticky and off white with good retention and lacing. Attractive citrusy/flowery hop aroma with a hint of cherry. Dry and a little fruity on the tongue with moderate hop bitterness that peaked toward the end at about 5 out of 10. The hop flavor was citrusy, a little sweaty, and overpowered the lesser cereal grain malt in the background.

Pours a mostly clear copper-amber color with a massive, thick, chunky, cream colored head. The lacing that this thing leaves behind is like the thickest of cobb webs, so much so that I was practically expecting a spider to crawl out of my glass. The aroma is off right from the start. Sharp grapefruit hops and caramel malts are interrupted by a strange, overly funky yeast aroma. The flavor follows suit, with grossly sharp grapefruit being further intensified by this strange, sour yeasty component. Finishes harsh. Body is on the watery side. Not good at all. Borderline drainpour. Possibly a bad bottle, though I don’t know for sure.

Pours dark orange with a long lasting head. Lots of citrus and fruit in the aroma. Grapefruit, tropical punch, lighter citrus notes and toasted malt flavor. Not overly bitter, more balanced than anything. Could be session-able. I enjoyed this one immensely, as it was a great change up from the San Diego IPA style that I get alot of.

Suprise find at Tanakaya. Good looking copper with a big ’ol fluffy tan head. Grapefruit, pine, earth tones, and a caramel backbone. Could use a bit more in the aroma, but definitly the makings of an American IPA. Smooth and full bodied. Flavor is solid, but a little less than I was hoping for. Grapefruit and citrus, pine notes, resin, and the caramel malts are hanging in there, as well. Nicely bitter in the end, not the hop punch of the west coast. I was dissapointed at first, but warmed up to this IPA.

22. Pours deep burnished dark copper, fairly clear, plenty of rising bubbles, nice thick loose off-white head rocking around the glass. Decent strings of lace on the way down. Nice big grapefruity nose, just super fruity. Medium body with perfect carb, just big enough to be active but doesn’t call much attention to itself. Forward flavors but not a bruising hop bomb (not by some west coast standards, anyway, which I realize is not always relevant, just saying). Rich but well-modulated blend of caramel and dry leaves under a nice grapefruity wash in the mid-palate; the hop resin clings at the finish and this is a refreshing, tasty, pleasurable beer. They need to stop a few kegs/cases here on the way to Portland.

Date: 10/17/1998
Mode: Firkin
Source: Brewfest, Real Ale Festival

hazy amber, pleasant floral hop aroma, light body, big bitter bite, otherwise nothing going on
-------- /> Date: 03/25/2004
Mode: bottle

dark clear amber, big bubbly tan head, rich earthy hop aroma on top of dry carmel malt, rich dry malt flavor with lots of hops leading to a long bitter finish

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 8/10; Flavor: 5/10; Palate: 5/10; Overall: 10/20
Rating: 2.9/5.0
Score: *4
-------- /> The score was calculated based upon the notes and an old scoring system.

Amber appearance. Great IPA. Not much else to say. Love that it’s only 5.7% but still damn hoppy and tons of flavor. Good malty backbone too. Would be a killer everday IPA.

22 oz bottle from Capital Market.Pours a clear reddish copper with a large head. Nose is citrus and a little earthy. Taste starts sweet, then lots of orange peel and grapefruit hops, with some pine and a little spiciness in the aftertaste. Too bad this is neutered..err i mean filtered, as it had a lot of potential. Light/medium body, moderate carbonation. Could use some dry hopping...Ok but the filtering makes it lacking. 10/29/07 rerate***************orig was 7/3/6/2/14... 220z bottle via Capital Market. Pours a clear amber with a slightly larger than average & VERY chunky off-white head. Nose is citrus and pine hops with some subdued grains. The taste starts and ends fiarly sweet, but in between there is a lot of orange, a ton of grapefruit and alot of pine. THen it turns sweet again before a dry grapefruit rind aftertaste that lingers for a minute or so....the grapefruit is quite ncie but borders on being metallic, which is likely due to the body jsut not being to handle the hops, and the heavy filtration. The body is light, carbonation is just right. This is a good IPA that i think would be great if it was unfiltered and had more flavoring/aroma/dry hopping...but even so, it is a damn good IPA!