AleSmith YuleSmith (Summer) India Pale Ale

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

Second sober rating; first beer of the day this time. Light orange copper or dark orange amber. Half inch lasting creamy head. Meaty deep hop aroma. Lots of heavy citrus notes. Enough hops for this bottle to be a meal but not overpowering. Long, long lasting hop finish. After the first sip or three the alcohol notes make an appearance. Can almost feel the texture of the dried hops. May 2008. FINALLY found the summer version and shared the bottle after a long night. Good thing I found a second bottle to follow up with a more serious tasting in the next few days. Amber. Good head. Rich hop aroma. Rich bitter ________. Hops. Huge hops. Huge alcohol. 7/3/7/3/15

Huge thanks to BOLTZ7555 for this beauty! Cheers mate! Aroma is big citrus candy, caramel, resin, hay and flowers. Nice buttery notes. Clear medium amber orange hue with a large off-white head that mostly lasted and left fantastic lace. Flavor is sweet and bitter. Flavors of caramel,vanilla, citrus hopps and flowers. Finishes nice and bitter. Palate sticky sweet and bitter. A bit cloying on the finish as well. Very good IIPA. Fantastic all the way around. It is a bit cloying though.

Sampled at OSLO/Guerde’s Memorial Day tasting and shared by BDR. Pours a hazy-orange amber brew with a creamy off-white head that has some great retention and sticky lacing. Aroma of grapefruit and citrus zest, a touch of vanilla, white pepper, and caramel malt. Taste is quite hoppy and sweet citrus, caramel malt, grapefruit and some pine. Finish is quite bitter, with a pine and grapefruit aftertaste that lingers long after the finish.

Pours a cloudy golden brown with an amazing frothy head that just won’t go away. Aroma of citrus, pine, malt, hops. Flavor is grapefruit, hops, malt, nice and bitter with enough malt sweetness to balance it out. This stuff is really good.

Bomber. Pours a crystal clear amber with 2 finger rocky cream head and tons of carbonation. Nose is ripe citrus, malt and pine needles. Palate is sweet malt upfront followed by a puckering yellow grapefruit bite with a bitter resin finish. Medium mouth feel with nice lacing. Great DIPA.

2007 Vintage. Bottle thanks to Hellbilly. Hazy golden amber with a massive overflowing (uh-oh) head. Lacings left on the glass. Aroma of citrus, pine, lychee and apricot with caramel malt backbone and alcohol. Extremely sweet. Alcohol surge at the end. Nice smooth mouthfeel.

This was a bottle from last year, but damn it was still amazing. I’d love to try a fresh bottle. You could tell the aroma died down a bit because of the huge amount of bitterness, but other than that it tasted great, with a nice malty backbone and a great hop flavor to accompany the high IBU level. One of the better DIPA’s I’ve tried.

Bottle. Poured an orange/amber color with a thin off-white head that leaves light lacing. Nice hoppy aroma of citrus and pines backed with caramel malts. The flavor follows much the same. Moderate bitterness. Medium body. Well balanced and enjoyable. (Rating from June ’07)