Smuttynose Big A IPA

Brewed by Smuttynose Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Portsmouth, New Hampshire USA

Bottle, shared with DeuceDeuceOU. Great tasting IIPA, much different Hop profile from other IIPA’s. Taste takes a backseat to aroma as this beer smells huge and tastes not as huge as it smells. good balance and finish.

650 ml bottle, shared with StompBrockmore - pours an thick, opaque honey colour with a small white head. Big citrusy west coast hop aroma, which is misleading, because the flavour of the beer is less fruit and more earth, which I prefer. Full of sticky fresh hop flavours, with a warm, twiggy backbone. Notes of fruit again, but not so much citrus as pear and plum. Woody. I really like this. Had this back to back with a couple other dIPAs and you can really notice the pilsner malt used here - an interesting and succesful experiment.

650ml bottle, shared with VeloVampire - pours light, cloudy orange with very little head. What is there is foamy and white. Aroma is huge and grapefruity with spuce and pine in the background. Fruity and herbal. Flavour is much less fruity than the aroma, with earthier, piney hops coming forward. Citrus/grapefruit comes back in the finish, along with a lasting bitterness. Very soft in the mouth, with a complex succession of hop flavours all the way through. Extremely well balanced against a nice malt backbone, where you can really detect the Pils malts used. Not overly bitter either, considering the IBU’s. Excellent beer.

I thought this a rather good DIPA. It was fruity and bitter, but still smooth and drinkable. Appearance was a hazy yellow with good head formation. The head was slightly soapy-looking. Aroma was lightly sweet citrus, and most reminiscent to me of pineapple. Flavor is dry bitterness up front with citrus flavor at the finish. Mouthfeel was rather smooth, and this beer was very drinkable. I would say better than Victory Hop Wallop or Avery Maharaja.

A pretty good value IIPA. I got a bomber of this for 4 bucks and it’s hard to go wrong at that price. Kind of a dingy body (amber-ish) with a very modest head, what gets you about this one is the heavy citrus and pine aroma. There’s a real kick that the hophead in me loves, and a bit of malt cream as a backbone. A little spice gives it extra character. Not mind-blowing but really good.

Bottle. Hazy orange amber, low creamy golden head. Good punch of citrussy hops in the nose. Orangepeel, pine, oregano and salt - ultradry of course. Herbal pinecone aftertaste.

This beer has a definite bite that hop lovers will like. I liked the citrusy hops and aroma. It pours a bronzed gold haze. The second half of the bottle kicks more. Overall a fantastic IIPA.

Hazy orange and a small, dense, off white cap. Poisonous flowers, citrus rind, resin. Very fresh and floral. All hops in this one, which I like. Just enough malt to keep it a IIPA. Medium, balanced body. Very good.