Midnight Sun Sockeye Red IPA

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

Good hoppy drink. Like the reddish tone of the body, the bitter hop aroma, the bitter hoppy taste. I’d buy it if offered in the Chicago area.

<font size=-4><a href=http://www.clubsofamerica.com/beerofthemonthc of the Month Club<font size=-1>

Picked up a bomber at the brewery in Anchorage. Pours a sparkling dark orange with creamy off-white head with decent lacing. Cascades and Centennial hops make their presence known in the sprucey, hoppy floral aroma. Nice citrusy hoppy bite with a mild nutty back end. Not too overdone. Finishes sweet and solid but the mouthfeel is just a tad on the stinging side. However, very good effort from this Anchorage micro.

(22 oz bottle; 12 oz bottle; Draft: Midnight Sun Brewing Co. in Anchorage, AK) Fairly strong hoppiness and moderately bitter with some orange citrus, but what makes this IPA good is that it has a solid, lightly sweet malt backbone, though the hops does remain somewhat dominant here. It has a mild sourness (in all 3 tastings) and a lingering hops bitterness that outlasts the malt in the finish. Medium to full bodied with a solid mouthfeel, and high carbonation levels that expand inside the mouth on each sip. Very hoppy, though soapy nose, but with a fair amount of maltiness for nice balance. Quite cloudy and orange amber in color. Pouring out of this bomber, I get a full glass of head and nothing else, but when I sample out of the 12 oz bottle on a later date, careful pouring allows me to empty the bottle’s contents in a single pour. The off-white head has excellent retention, maintaining a dense, thick layer, and sticks to the glass nicely, leaving large patches of lacing.

3.7 is WAY too low for this one. Thanks to BrooklynBoy for this. Pours dark copper with abig, creamy, off-white head and great lacing. Aroma of malt, hops, fruit, GIGANTIC strawberries (I’ve never smelled a beer that had as big a strawberry aroma). Tastes malty, hoppy, fruity, with a finishing blast of strawberry, florals, fruit, hops, malt, and caramel. Medium mouthfeel, and unrivaled complexity. This is part red ale, part IPA, and part fruit beer....with all parts being equally extraordinary.

This beer came as part of my beer of the month club. Luckily I am rather fond of pale ales. Sampled from a 12 oz bottle this intriguing brew poured a dark red-brown color. The head was enormous. I tiled the glass to be sure not to make a large one. 1/3 of the glass ended up being beer before I had to stop due to the volcanic eruption of head off of this beer. Thick and creamy the head rose a mountainous 2 inches higher than the edge of the glass and sat there for a good 15 minutes before subsiding enough for me to actually try a taste of the fine elixir beneath. Huge amounts of lacing clung viniously to the sides of the glass as i proceeded to quaff the brew. The aroma was strong and enticed me as I waited for the head to clear. Definite notes of grapefruit and a mild malty undertone drove the scent. Very pleasant odor. The flavor was strong with grapefruit and flowery hops. There was a slight toasted maltiness to the finish. A dry beer which surprised me given the color. Overall a really nice IPA. My only complaint is that the beer was really overcarbonated. While I did not mind so much in the head, the carbonation lingered and interfered with the palate a bit too much for my taste.

Fantastic hoppy and citrusy aroma from this beer -- very much in your face. The amazing thing is, it remains complex, picking up citrus, berry, hops, and even a bit of alcohol on the nose. Wow. Hope it tastes as good as it smells! The look is a hazy brown, dark, with sediment falling. Beautiful. The taste is very nice; long hoppy aftertaste without too too much bite. Leaves a nice coat on your palate. Very impressive IPA, better than the hop devil for a "darker" IPA.

a foggy brown body. smells strongy like hops (ipa). tastes just like it smells. light a little watery. good taste. slight slight bitter finish. nice good ipa not the best but very good.

Orange/copper body with off-white head. Appealing grapefruit/hops nose. Medium bodied. Carbonation good. Slight astringency. Strong grapefruit essence in the flavor. Very refreshing and satisfying. Very good beer. Another excellent IPA that I’ve had lately.