rbrazell (57), Tallahassee, Florida, USA Feb 3, 2009 Pours a clear amber with a small pillowy manilla head. Nose has tons of fresh citrus hops. Flavor is the same with great balance . Dry finish. Butters (1623), Virginia, USA Feb 2, 2009 2008 bottle. Pours a clear reddish amber with decent off-white head and fair lacing. Nose is malty, with a dark fruit, and rummy esters and spicy hop. Flavor is a nicely balanced sweet malt with solid earthy hop bitterness. Medium chewy body with a soft carbonation. Lingering bitter finish. I know many people who wait all year for this to come out. I’m not really one of them though. But this is still a solid ipa. nathan30533 (138), Dahlonega, Georgia, USA Feb 2, 2009 Not my favorite IPA. Smell of hops and malt, little spice. Taste is long lasting and that of a hoppy IPA. Too long lasting for my liking though. Good, not great. ChainGangGuy (2523), Kennesaw, Georgia, USA Feb 2, 2009 Appearance: Clear, deep, dark copper body with a small, white head.
Smell: Fragrant blanket of hops with scents of citrus, soap, and pine overlaying a rudimentary pale maltiness.
Taste: Pale malts with a clean, though transient malt sweetness. Big push by the hops, with flavors of rosin, lemon-scented soap, and grapefruit pith. Moderate bitterness throughout. Oh, but the humble malts fight valiantly to regain some ground, but, sorry, it’s game, set, match for the hop bitterness. Slight grassiness. Long, lingering bitterness on the dry finish.
Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Medium carbonation. Very light stickiness to the mouthfeel.
Drinkability: A Celebration of brash, simplistic bitterness which, if that’s your bag, is fine, but I never ever quite understood all the hoopla for this beer. maugus4ever (121), Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA Jan 31, 2009 Pours a hazy copper with a nice off-white head. Floral and citrusy aroma. Great balance of malts and hops. This is one of my favorite holiday seasonals because it is far from a traditional seasonal. Definitely worth trying. Heathen (723), Riverside, New Jersey, USA Jan 30, 2009 THOUGHTS: I had this three years ago, when I only knew a little about drinking beer and hated it. It was probably on of my first IPAs and I had it ice cold. Now that I’ve learned to love hops, I think this is great. Makes me wish I bought a six-pack instead of a single bottle. Very nicely balanced.
TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a dark brownish orange with a large, off-white head that slowly diminished and left excellent lacing. The aroma was light to moderate caramel malt, and moderate to heavy floral, pine and orange hops. The flavor started sweet and bitter, and finished sweet and more bitter with a long duration. There was caramel malt then lots of pine and citrus hops. The medium body was oily with fizzy carbonation and a slightly metallic and ever so slightly light alcoholic finish. Borresteijn (1351), Amsterdam, Netherlands Jan 29, 2009 Bottle from Cracked Kettle. Hazy amber colour, creamy off-white head. Aroma of citrus, orange and grapefruit, a hint of berries, malts and caramel. Flavour is malty sweet, a little spicy, caramel, good rather bitter drying finish. Medium bodied, soft mouthfeel. wowda99 (1), NORTHATTLEBORO, Massachusetts, USA does not count Jan 28, 2009 Great bite with initial flavor, hops strong but not overpowering. Easily my favorite beer for the holidays. Love the 6.8 ABV! A 12 pack of these big boys and I’m ready to go
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