Smuttynose Big A IPA

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

Cloudy golden orange color, yeast chunks present. Very hoppy, a citrus piney hop. Lingering bitter finish.

Dull-orange body with mild carbonation and a tight uniform off-white head. Aroma of prominent caramel malt and some spicy/woody notes including cinnamon. Nice warm spicy flavor with cookie dough qualities and nice, refined hop bitterness. Has a very palatable malt texture. This DIPA seems to have an English twist, making it quite novel and damn good.

Hazy orange with a small white head. Big floral aroma, and a big hop taste that lingers on.

On the spectrum of double ipas, this happens to be on the Dreadnaught/Goose Island I2pa/Hercules side of malt and hops profile. As opposed to the 90 minute/Hopslam side. (I’m basing this on taste and not actual malt and hops used). I happen to be a fan of this side of the spectrum. Big A does have a tendency towards the cloying orange rind finish which I associate with the 90 minute side of things, but not too bad. Nice to have this available just over the border in Hudson, WI.

I really, really like this brewery. Everything they do, they do with lots of malt. Yet once again, I wonder what is the difference between this and Bigfoot? Highly hopped, nicely malty, 9% beers. Hmmm, oh well. This was probably not as hoppy as a true-hop head would like, but I found it very well balanced, with loads of fruit malt meshing with piney/citrus hops in the aroma. The mouthfeel was full without being sticky. Sloshing it around in your mouth, a lot of pure caramel goodness seeped out. Finish bitter with slight alcoholic aftertaste. Another winner from Smuttynose. Note: rate of 2004 version, which many have noted is better than the 2003

I’m getting Bombered tonight baby!
I have to thank jgb9348 for this 22oz, Jeremy, you are the Man, Cheers!
The body is solid and bronze like a Greek God, the head, tan; its as full and rich as whipped cream.
Big A has a breathtaking aroma, tangerines, guava, grapefruit, caramelized brown sugar, malt, but its hops all the way home. Surprisingly the flavor has all of the same characteristics as the aroma but far mellowed in comparison. I believe that the malt is more pronounced, maybe a bit nutty in some spots, but again the mass of hops bringing this Big A home. Finish is surprisingly dry and tangy; Certainly an IPA that I will endorse!
Thanks again J-Man!

WoW, the last pour has Gigantic Globule chucks....all kinds of insane Shmegma; in which I showed no mercy toward and simply drank the shit out of!! They seem to be in suspension, merrily floating throughout the unreasonably bronzed body!

A very solid "4" beer, if ever there was one. 22 oz. brown bomber bottle. No freshness date seen, but none needed at this level of alcohol. Decent pfffttt when opened. Poured out a cloudy, dark orange color, with light green highlights from the massive amount of hops in it. It has a volumous, white head to it, which left a sticky lacing that covered the top of the beer, and went down the sides of the glass. Aromas are of grapefruity hops, sticky, resinous, piney hops, and slight aromas of malts, way off in the background. The hops clearly dominate both the aroma and taste profiles of this beer. Tastes are of resinous, piney hops, along with slight maltiness. Hops are almost over powering in this beer. Slick mouthfeel coats the tongue with sticky hoppiness. The IBU’s of this beer must be off the scale. Finishes very bitter, and somewhat astringent.

Amber hue with orange highlights. Large rocky off-white head and very good lace. Big hoppy aroma (floral as well as grapefruity and piney). Also detected some bubble gum, pepper, meaty yeast, and buttered toast tones on the nose. Big and balanced taste with both large qualities of malt and hops well balanced. Piney and bitter finish, metallic. Medium-bodied with a creamy and lively mouthfeel, slight presence of alcohol. An imperial IPA? Aggressively hopped and very similar to Stone Ruination IPA. Highly recommended.