Acme California IPA

Brewed by North Coast Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Fort Bragg, California USA

This is a Anderson Valley clone....classic Cali IPA. Heavier on the malt front make’s it not so great of an example but good otherwise. The alcohol burn makes it inferior to others but this is still a decent example of a Cali IPA.

Sampled from bottle. Acme pours clear orange-gold with a creamy, light-tan head and notable lacing. Aroma is floral/grapefruit citrus hops and hard candy. Flavor is nicely bitter with piney/citrus hops, toasted, bready malt and a bit of plum. Medium bodied, light to moderate carbonation. Bitterness lingers. This is a new beer for Oklahoma, and while it’s a far cry from what I’d consider a ’great IPA’, I’m happy to have it in the rotation. It’s worth a try.

Bottle - big floral hop nose, some grassy hops as well. It subsides as the head dies down. That head is white. It sits atop a dark straw colored body. I’m surprised by the flavor. A mellow hop flavor that gently yields to the sweet malt backbone. Very soft palate. Would love to try this one on cask!

Not a lot of aroma for the style, but what is there has a pleasnt new mown hay aroma. Very light color, absolutely clear with a compact head and decent lacing. Flavor did not really have enough of a hoppy body, with a slight astringent quality. Decent but not great IPA.

This beer is great! I absolutely love Old Rasputiin Inperial Stout from North Coast, and this is on par with that offering as an IPA. I think North Coast might be my favorite American brewery. Too bad I can only pick up Red Seal Ale regularly in my neighborhood.

Large white frothy head. Pretty good duration. Light carbonation. Light floral hoppy aroma with a hint of lime. Color is a medium gold. Primarily floral and lime in the flavor with a bit of biscuity malt. Finish is sort of fruity with a light hop bitterness. Ok but nothing special.

I was quite disappointed in this brew, considering it is an IPA from a very respected brewer. It has decent bittering hops, however, it just falls off the cliff from there. There is not a flavor hop presence nor an aroma hop presence to speak of. This IPA lacks any flavor distinctions whether that be hoppy or malty. It would even fall short in a Pale Ale category. Very thin in body.

12 oz bottle. Great look: thick lacing, lasting moderate foamy head, hazy apricot body....simple, refreshing orangy-apricot nose, touch acerbic but mostly sweet...body fairly low in the bitterness, sweet and fruity, rather syrupy, moderate caramelly malts...drinkable but quite ordinary.