Sebago Fryes Leap IPA

Brewed by Sebago Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Gorham, Maine USA

Sampler. Slight cloudy golden appearance. Hoppy IPA. Seems well balanced. Enjoyable strong hoppy IPA.

12oz single bottle purchased from Charles St Liquors in Boston. No freshness date on the bottle, and some bottles are of suspect age from that store. Pours a nice cloudy dark gold with a bit of head. Good lacing. Decent aroma of English hops and malts. Flavour is pretty nice - the hops taste English (although I’m not qualified to specifically name a type, but I do enjoy saying the word "Fuggles") but certainly stronger than a typical English bitter. Well balanced maltiness. Great lingering hoppy aftertaste. Reading the beer description now, I am a bit surprised to find that this uses American hops, but I suppose it helps explain the stronger profile than a typical British... Enjoyable stuff, and better than I expected. It’s providing me with something a bit different than most American IPAs. But without knowing the age of this bottle, it’s tough to say if age has an effect.

Pours amber into a shaker. Head quickly recedes leaving spot lacing. Mild resin aromas. Grapefruit from front to back with a lasting dry resin finish.

From the bottle pours a light orange or brown. A small head with a strong aroma of hops. It is a bitter beer. Probably the best IPA from the Maine Micro brew crew - to this point at least.

Draft. Poured a deep amber body with thin head. Aroma is citrusy hops. Flavor is citrus hops, sweet malty tones with some vegatable evident.

En fût. Pinte dégustée chez Great Lost Bear (Portland, ME). Arôme: Odeur d’houblon floral avec une pointe de caramel. Apparence: La couleur est orangée. Présence d’un mince col mousseux et d’une fine dentelle sur le verre. Saveur: Légère présence de pamplemousse et de caramel. Durée moyenne de l’arrière goût. Palette: Le corps est moyen avec une texture légèrement huileuse. Moyenne effervescence en bouche. Légère présence d’amertume d’houblon en arrière goût. (Rating #1702)

Draft at the brewpub in Portland. very nice and unusually good balance of flavors. some florals but also a strong dry finish. dark clear golden color. my favorite but its probably the hops

Rerate: Hazy amber with a thick white head. The nose is pretty nice. A touch of light grapefruit over a soft crackery malt base. The flavour is pretty basic, but it works pretty well. I’m not sure what the deal is since the last bottle I had was pretty infected, but this one is drinking decently. A fairly peppery finish and a bit of light pine as well. Light amber with a huge (overcarbonated) rocky head. Very dusty aroma with a lightly oxidized cardboardy character. Lightly crackery. Some nice hoppy grapefruity aroma with a fairly citrusy hoppiness, but it doesn’t quite come together. The flavour isn’t quite right. Oxidized and cardboardy and not very good. A similar harsh minerally note as is present in the stout, but in the stout it kind of works... here not so much. 5 2 4 2 9