AleSmith YuleSmith (Summer) India Pale Ale

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

Peach, floral and citrus aroma. Tastes of peach, grapefruit and slight creamy vanilla. Super balance. Mouthfeel is thick and creamy for an IPA. Highly recommended.

Fresh bottle. Medium yellow app., nice white fluffy head that clings to the side of the glass. Smells like fresh hops. Nice bitter taste that hangs on the middle of the tongue. Quite good, highly recommend.

2007 bottle. This one pours a hazy golden yellow with a big fluffy white head that lingers forever leaving big globs of lacing. This is a beautiful looking beer. The aroma is big on citrus hops up front with grapefruit and oranges but also a noticeable pine hop scent as well. There is a faint caramel malt scent as well but the hops are the star in this one. The taste mirrors the aroma with a huge citrus hop kick up front, mainly grapefruit. This gives way temporarily to a more bready malt backbone before the pine hops kick in and give a nice bitter finish that lingers for a while. Mouthfeel is medium to full bodied and sticky with hop oils. It just coats the mouth with hoppy goodness. This is an extremely drinkable DIPA and is another great offering from AleSmith who rarely, if ever, disappoint. Probably a top 5 DIPA in my book.

Found out this was a 2007 bottle after the fact. Thought I had gotten a fresh 2008 bottle but alas I was mistaken. The pour is a dull copper color with some light cloudiness to it, a sticky off-white head that was creamy and produced good lacing all the way down the glass. The aroma was mild pine, floral and thin citrus. A bit of tea as well. Some light caramel maltiness. The flavor was pine, floral and malt with plenty of dry tea. I tend to associate that dry tea flavor with IPAs and DIPAs that are past their prime. The mouthfeel was nice and the finish was bone dry. Definitely want a do over once the ’08 is released.

The color was hazy peach. The head was creamy and off-white. The aroma was fermented fruit, hops, and malt. The flavor was malty, waxy/bitter, and hoppy. It was surprisingly not hoppy. We think this is because it was exposed to some harsh temperatures. The palate was full-bodied. The finish was waxy.

Recently had this fresh and updated my rating. The nose was much more citrusy and hoppy fresh, C hops for sure, grapefruit, apricot, sweet resiny hops with a nice sweet malt background. The flavor is really malty, caramel, citrusy, grapefruit peel, earthy, a lite dry alcohol feel. Even fresh the hops in the flavor were very subdued, not juicy at all. More bitter and astringent than I would like. Creamy full mouthfeel with little bitterness and a bit of warmth. Finishes citrusy and earthy.

Pours light amber orange with thin white head. Floral aroma of hops, very nice! (Not too overwhelming or weak) Flavor begins with a nice and smooth citrus profile and then finishes with an intense kick of hops. Finishes dry with a smooth and medium weight body. This double IPA is really lacking in roasty flavor. Kind of suprising, but nice. A great beer for a hop-head in Southern California during summer!

Small sample at OSLO and Guerde’s tasting on Friday, 5-23-08. Pours a hazy gold with a beige head. Nice, yeasty aroma features honey, green grape, and dessert wine scents. Hoppy taste that I didn’t expect from the aroma. Some sweetness in the flavor. Dry finish. Good, hoppy aftertaste. Medium body. Lively in the palate.