Alaskan IPA

Brewed by Alaskan Brewing Co
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Juneau, Alaska USA

Light golden/bronze color with a small foam. Woodsy and medicinal hop aroma, with some herbaceousness as well. Fairly aromatic, but not pleasant for me at all. Flavor is fairly hoppy, also woodsy like the nose, with spruce hints and some honey covered fruits. Don’t care for the super medicinal nose, but the flavor is pretty spot on for the style and well balanced. Could be brighter, but its a pretty good IPA.

Bottle. Pours a light orange/amber color with a white head and spotty lacing. Aroma of citrus and piney hops, grainy malts and some grapefruit. Flavor is lightly sweet with caramel, citrus, mild malts, and grapefruit with a dry and bitter finish.

Bottle sampled at Alan’s HSC initiation, thanks Dogbrick: Aroma on this one is floral, tad of citrus rind. Resiny hop, some citrus, medium-bodied mouthfeel. Not too bad, but not all that memorable.

Bottle (22oz). Hazy light brass pour, 2cm foamy/creamy white head. Sweet and juicy aroma - pineapple, mango and tangerine, some acidic resin and citrus zest. The taste is quite light - pine resin and tart tropical fruit, a little thin around the edges, nice and crisp, but not all that carbonated, a little watery and acidic in the finish. Decent, I’d drink it again - goes down easy and doesn’t pack a huge punch.

Draft @ Tin Fish, San Diego. Copper and clear, with a small head. Aroma is citrus and pine resin. Flavor is mostly the same with some nutty malt for balance. Finishes with more resiny hops. Light-medium body is watery and slightly dry.

A soft cold pour produces a tall head that slowly subsides leaving sticky snail tracks and textbook lacing. Aromas of fresh cut citrus rind. Full nectar w/ low carbonation creating an almost oily texture. Wonderfully balanced and hop forward, the malt factors in perfectly never becoming sweet. Theres a tasty candy necklace component that peaks my interest. Fresh and fruity, bright and delicious. The finish is bittered well and lingers w/ fruit. A nice specimen on the mellow side.

A reasonable pour into my 25cl tulip glass yields a three-finger thick, lightly tanned, off-white colored head. The beer is a brilliantly clear, copper color that only gets brighter when held up to the light. Aromatically expressive in its hoppiness, the hop character is quite noticeable as I pour and visually inspect the beer. Grapefruit, big lychee and tangelo are noticeable aromatics up front with follow on, slightly reduced in intensity, aromas of pine sap and herbal hop notes. The finish also has a nice, toasty grain character to it reminiscent of biscuit malt and crushed saltine crackers, though the hops do a good job of drowning out any malt influence. As the beer warms a bit some fruitier notes of apricot and light tropical fruit become a bit more noticeable.

Lightly sweet malt and a malt fullness is quickly overtaken by a dominant, though not scathing, green, herbal hop component. The flavor has a more even balance between citrus and herbal / pine hop influences, though the citrus just edges out the others. Flavors of grapefruit, bitter orange zest, candied orange peel, apricot and lychee are more noticeable up front, while a sharp, herbal, mix of menthol-pine and hop bitterness seem to be quite a bit more noticeable towards the finish; each of these notes is noticeable throughout the flavor profile at some level though. Fizzy carbonation and a light-medium heft keep this quite drinkable and perfectly inline with the quaffability of an IPA.

This is a nice hop-focused IPA, I almost wish for a bit more malt character, but there is just enough to support the hops and any more would likely intrude and the eminent drinkability that this, dry beer achieves.

Purchased: <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? Liquors, Tucson AZ

light orange with a thick white head that leaves webbing on the glass.aroma is orange hops and some oxidation.flavor is heavily oxidized with some malts and orange hops.