Mikkeller Stateside India Pale Ale / IPA

500ml bottle. Pours a gorgeous, clear, deep gold with an immense, persistent, off-white head. The aroma is fruity and hoppy. There are notes of honey and malts, but mostly there is spice, citrus, and pine from the hops with some fruitiness (raisin). The flavor starts hoppy with a good bit of chinook spiciness and pine. There is some breadiness to the malt as well as some residual sweetness that tastes like honey and caramel. By mid-tongue, the hop flavor turns into a fruity, citrus bitterness that maintains a level of spiciness. The level of caramel and raisiny esters grows. The beer proceeds to a somewhat dry, hoppy, piney finish. The mouthfeel is very full in body. It is a little thick and almost oily, though a creaminess is detected by parts of the tongue thanks to a soft carbonation. Overall, a decent beer but a little closer to a small American Barleywine than an American IPA (IPAs are usually little drier, lighter in body, and more bitter).

Cloudy orangeish red, almost no head. Big citrusy hop aroma, maybe a touch of toasty caramel. Pretty much the same in the flavor, too - huge citru hops, then subtle notes of caramel. Smoky, earthy notes as it warms. Really good.

Bottle. Orange-honey colored pour with a soapy white head. Lots of citrus and floral notes - piney and fruity hops. Smells great, tastes not as great. Still fine, but underwhelmed. Finish is a little bit flat and oily. Average.

22 oz bottle from Emacgee. Deep reddish amber in color with a small to medium off white head. Aroma- alot of grapefruit and orange, with some toasted malts and caramel in the background. Taste is very well balanced with a pretty big body for an IPA- toasted malts, caramel, light biscuity english malt- with sweet orange, grapefruit, and a harsh but pleasant moderate piney bitterness throughout. Finishes with light sweet caramel, tropical fruit and a lingering light to moderate chinook bitterness. This actually reminded me of a slightly ramped up Dale’s Pale Ale....

From a 500mL Bottle. Purchased from Liquid Solutions, 1/18/08. Mostly transparent, honey tinged gold color with a finger of tight bubbled white head. Light grapefruit hop aromas combine with some restrained orange zest. A mild bready malt sweetness lingers in the background. The hop aroma is pleasant and fresh (as in fresh garden floral character), but definitely lacks an assertiveness I’d expect from a recent brew day. No oxidation detectable, but the hop aroma just seems a bit tired. Light bodied, moderately carbonated mouthfeel. Orange citrus hop flavors jump out right away, along with some restrained caramel malt flavors. I really like how the malt body is subtle, allowing the hops to steal the limelight, but the hop characters seem a bit bland and naked without the cover of the malts. More grapefruit and pine, and then an interesting strawberry-orange "sweet" hop flavor comes out toward the back end of the palate. Finishes dry, with a piney bitterness lingering into the finish.

22oz bottle. The last one at greens liquor in Atlanta. Very clear copper colored brew. Nice. Almost no aroma to this one. Just a touch of grain, biscuit, and earthy hops. Nothing prominent, but nothing off either. Fairly earthy and spicy flavor. Clean and straight forward with grass clippings and an English bent. Dry medium body. While I was not very thrilled with this one (a touch disappointed perhaps), it did not hurt my feelings.

500 ml bottle purchased at Davidsons outside of Denver, CO. Pour is yellow orange, clear, with a billowing off white head which featured some pretty layering. Aroma of some real fresh pine hops, smell almost wet and quite resinous. Taste is the earthy, pine, resin hops and is sharply bitter. Not too much malt in this one, big focus on the hops. Well done hop bomb, though I personally would have liked a bit more balance. Despite this, nice drinkable body.

bottle. nice big hoppy aroma with caramel malts. very nice bitterness. well balanced. a little hop oil. overall a very nice IPA