AleSmith YuleSmith (Summer) India Pale Ale

Brewed by AleSmith Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
San Diego, California USA

Pours a hazy amber with fizzy white head. Aromas of pine and citrus fruit. Flavors of hops and citrus. Alcohol is hidden well and this one finishes smooth. Good solid beer.

Celebration of number 1,000! Poured into a wide snifter from six-month old bottle. Bottle kept in fridge temperatures entire time. Color is gold with bright orange, perfectly clear with a healthy white head. Aroma is of mango, papaya, tangerine, sweet grapefruit and pine. Flavor bursts with a hit of citrus fruit and some sharp lemon pith. Great stuff, indeed. This is hop-malt DIPA balance done right. And extreme. Finishing end turns more lemony as it dries out. Still an explosion of flavor. Mouthfeel is crisp and medium in texture, leading up to a dry finish. Excellent. I’d take this over Yulesmith Winter in a heartbeat!

Summer version. Honey gold in color with a large white head. The final pour included huge amounts of sediment. An aroma that is full of hops. Grapefruit leads but some pine. Toasted bread, too. This is a massive hop bomb to drink. They are tart citrus, pepper spice, and deeply buried caramel with some biscuit. This beer comes right at you with the hops. An excellent beer!

22 oz bottle courtesy if rustychiles and my Summe SS. Thanks, Rusty! Pours a hazy golden hue, touche of glowing orange notes in the body, big eggshell white head that cakes well, dies to a decent layer but stays present throughout, laces well. Aromas are heavily citrus hops, grapefruit, lemon, and some mellow orangey citrus. Cereal, pale, and light caramel malts. A touch of tropical and mango fruits, a touch gumball sweetness, very little pine. Initial is full bodied for the style, yet smooth, no cloying sweetness as citrusy hops are powerful, lemon and grapefruit, pale and faint caramel malts. Largely, pale and a touch of gumball sweetness. Pine comes in with some floral and good bitterness sticks to the palate towards the back. Mellow sweetness, good sticky bitterness that isn’t over the top. I think the hop flavors come through well, without just plain bitterness hazing the taste. Additionally, this beer strikes a good balance, with no cloying caramel making a big element or even much fanfare. Very good DIPA. Top tier.

Bottle, thanks to TampaBrew for the share. Poured a slightly hazy copper color with a creamy eggshell colored head. This is a great beer. Aroma is loads of citrus, earthy hops with notes of pine and grass. Full bodied, good carbonation, chewy mouthfeel. Flavor is excellent, great caramel base with residual sweetness and a near perfect amount of citrus, grass, and pine. Fairly balanced but still nicely hopped. For now, my favorite DIPA

Thanks to grownfool for this one! Pours a nice cloudy orange with thick white head, lots of lacing. Aroma is glorious of citrus hops, very slight floral, decent herbal notes, pine, grass, and some spices. Flavor comes together ever so nicely and makes for a wonderful drink.

Location: 22 oz bottle bottle via trade from NickD717, 9/1/09

Aroma: Juicy citrus hops, grapefruit, orange, pine, caramel, maybe some melon
Appearance: Clear golden-orange color with a big, creamy, long-lasting head and tons of lace on the glass
Flavor: Really pleasant bitter flavor, just the right amount of caramel malty sweetness, really tasty
Palate: Medium body, smooth beer that reminds me a bit of the Ruination in how easy it is to drink for a DIPA
Overall Impression: Wow this is a good one, thanks for hooking me up with this awesome beer, Nick! This stuff is really quite good buddy, and you are 2 for 2 so far on sending me awesome beers. I could see myself drinking this one really often were it distributed to the East Coast, but unfortunately, it looks like this one is being hogged by you lucky bastards out west. Seriously though, I really can find very little to quibble with on this one, it is almost exactly what I was hoping for, a truly exquisite brew.

Aroma: Pine, grapefruit and citrus Appearance: Pretty light golden color with 1-2 fingers white head. Flavor: Nice hoppy bitterness. Good flavor. Palate: Lively carbonation, long finish. Overall: Pretty good DIPA.