Snoqualmie Falls Wildcat IPA

Draught Yellow orange, small head. Nice aroma hops, very flowery nose, resiny hints. Hoppy, what would you expect, but it’s buffered, no metallic backfiring. Malt, however, is inconspicious. Light, not overpowering or aggressive, but smooth. A nice, drinkable IPA.

This is one great IPA. Lots of hop flavor without being overly bitter. Kind of sweet with a nice finish. Re-Rated 5/11/07; Was lucky enough to sample the cask-conditioned version of this fine IPA. Mellowed out substantially, helping the pine and grapefruit get along. Columbus hops are still very noticable - which is a toss up considering their pungency.

Thanks to Andre for this one. Pours out a deep cloudy copper color with a nice fluffy white head that fades in time. Aroma is up front grapefruit/citrus hops. Taste is very well balanced with the hops shining through very nice bitter lingering finish. Solid IPA

22oz. bottle. Orange golden color with a medium sized rocky white head. Huge piney and grapefruit hop aromatics. Candied citrus hop flavors with sweet doughy malt underneath. Lasting finish with a tapering residual sweetness and a tinge of resinous astringency. Mouthfeel is medium full, rather dry.

Bottled. Hazy golden, creamy head. Grapefruit hop aroma. Medium sweet with full body. Apart from some toffee this beer is all about hop flavour. Lingering extremely bitter finish.

Bottle @ OMH-tasting
Big grapefruit aroma and a body to go. Tropical fruits en masse in taste accompanied with an intensive bitterness. A hint of apple peels when warmed up a bit.

Original rating:from a 22oz bottle on Jan 24, 2006.

Pours a golden-orange amber, relatively clear with some floaty bits, with a robust foamy head.

The aroma is grapefruit juice and a hint of yeast, but it is understated relative to the big blast of flavor that this beer offers. That flavor is all grapefruit juice hops, backed up with generous and well-balanced caramel malts. The beer manages not to be sweet, though, but rather simply citrusy with a pleasant but not overwhelmingly bitter finish. The mouthfeel is fine though not exceptional.

All in all, a nice example of a straight-forward high octane PacNW IPA. 7/3/8/3/15=3.6

Revisited on tap at Bai Pai in Seattle. On tap, this one just doesn’t live up. The restaurant deserves some of the blame for serving it at about 35 degrees F in a Pilsner glass - but as the beer warms, it doesn’t get better. Instead, a big salty unbalanced malt comes forward, along with an astringent hoppiness that is less citrus than outright chemical. Deeply unimpressive given multiple previous experiences with this in bottled form (though it did pour with a beautiful fine head.) What went wrong? 7/4/5/3/12=3.1

I’ve averaged the ratings.

Herbal, floral, perfumey hop aroma is sticky without being pungent. Hazy orange tan coloured body is topped by a decent white head that recedes to partial cover with excellent lacing. Nicely balanced flavour offers citrus-grapefruit hops, moderate bitterness and toasty malt character. Medium body with moderate carbonation. Bottle enjoyed with beerbuzzmontreal, MartinT, Oliver MTL, Rastacouere and Yowie.