Six Rivers IPA

Brewed by Six Rivers Brewery
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
McKinleyville, California USA

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

12 oz bottle from Market of Choice. Poured dark amber with almost no head. Smells of caramel, toffee and a very light hint of pine hops. Taste is dominated by caramel malts and a buttery diacetyl flavor that offends the tongue. Disappointing, especially for a west coast IPA.

Bottle. The aroma is sweet and faintly acidic with notes of toffee and grassy hops. Appearance is a cloudy amber color with a thin layer of white head. The flavor starts with herbal hops and caramel along with bready malt and lemon citrus. It’s definitely got that nutty malt flavor you would find in an English style IPA or Pale Ale. Mouthfeel is slightly creamy with medium carbonation and a clean, bitter finish. While the overall flavor is not nearly as citrusy or hoppy as other West Coast style IPAs, it has a smooth caramelized maltiness to it that makes for a nice change of pace.

Sample at the brewpub. Clear amber/copper color with a thin beige head. Aroma of malt and mild hops. Flavor is malty with caramel and a bit of citrus along with the mild hops. Not bad but coulda used more explicit hops on top of what was there to add some balls.

12 oz. bottle courtesy of a trade with joeneugs. Pours a cloudy deep amber with a very thin linen white head that disappeared after the first sip and left a few blotches of foam on the glass. Pleasant aroma of malt and grapefruit. The flavor frankly surprised me a bit as I was expecting the usual sharp grapefruit pith west coast IPA bitterness. Instead, what I experienced was a very malt forward beer with ample malt along with a bit brown sugar followed by some floral hops and a bit of fruity citrus. Nice, well rounded mouthfeel. Overall, an enjoyable beer that I would not have taken as an IPA without reading the label first.

I had some guy sitting next to be at the Portsmouth brewery talking this one up so I had to give it a try. Bottle poured into a shaker pint produced a good two finger white head that lasted a while and laced the sides of the glass. The brew had a hazy amber color to it. Surprisingly this brew was extremely balanced for a west coat IPA, (both in flavor and aromas’) but it is very true to the style. So I am impressed by it. The only ding I will hand out, is the mouthfeel is a tad light for me. Everything else is spot on for the style. This brew is a great English IPA. Awesome to drink, and you could easily drink mass quantities of it without getting your taste buds fatigued from the hop’s. Thanks again Paul this one was well worth the wait.

Bottle. Deep burnt orange with a very brief white head. Low aroma of peachy hops and sweet caramel. caramel malt, slightly sticky, seems to dominate over citrus and stonefruit hop chcaracter, although the whole palate seems a little muted to me. Meh.

Draft at Obriens. Dark orange hue, thin white head, cloudy. Nose is bready with hints of caramel and pine. Flavor is thick bready malt, crystal malts, open to moderate hop bitterness and low hop flavors of resin and grass, finishes with light residual sweetness. Medium body and carbonation, thickish texture. More dogfish than green flash, the malts dominate this IPA so much so that McLinleyville may be mandated to move to the east coast, average in every way, not in competition with the Cali IPAs.

Moderate floral aromas on this one. It tasted mostly like it was trying really hard to be bitter without really adding any hop flavor at all though. Pretty standard IPA.