AleSmith YuleSmith (Summer) India Pale Ale

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

Bottle: Pours a deep rich golden and slightly hazy color. White head. Aroma is slightly malty but over the top hops and pinyness and a little citrus. Flavor is about the same but with even more pineyness. Tons of pine, some grapefruit and a good malty backbone but the hoppyness is intense and overpowers. Excellent flavor that really highlights the hops, lacking balance but thats not necessarily a bad thing.

Thanks to bmartin08 for this bottle of 07 summer yule - Cloudy golden-amber pour with a pretty large whitish head. Big floral-citrus sweet aroma with a nice fresh-batch-O-hop aroma that is thick and enticing. Taste is a really nice floral-citrus mix of hops with just a bit of quality malt that makes it quite enjoyable. Wonderfully hoppy is the best way to describe it.

On draft at O’briens. Dead on in flavor for me. Another A++ beer for Alesmith. Re-rate bottle 22 oz. This is an awesome example of what I think a Double IPA should be. Grapefruit and a strong hop presence in the taste. Awesome brew!

Nice golden in color with beautiful lacing. Floral citrus aromas. Smooth and silky on the tongue. Upfront bitterness and dryness with some nice subdued maltiness. Good long hop finish.

2007 bomber, pours a cloudy golden amber with a towering pillowy off-white head, excellent lacing. Impressive aroma of grapefruit, floral, citrus, and some slight caramel. The same lineup as most IIPA’s, but blends and works well together much better than most, making the aroma assessment pleasantly long and drawn out. Taste is incredibly spot on for this style, with near perfect hoppiness, and supporting the aroma very well. Palate is quite smooth, creamy and full, with a clean finish. Yet more proof that AleSmith makes the world a better place!

Bomber, courtesy of Yonkers65 -- thanks!

Pours a nice yellow-orange with a huge offwhite head. Spectacular hop aroma, floral and grapefruit, wonderfully leafy and juicy; I’m feeling generous but today this one nearly pulls a 10.

The flavor is less impressive; a strong powerful bitterness (resin, orange peel) mingles with a somewhat vegatal off-taste as the malts step up and try to make themselves known. The flavor avoids the sweet caramel IIPA trap, but it doesn’t have the juicy loveliness of say Moynan’s hopsickle. We do get an impressively bitter, Ruinition-style long end of the finish. Mouthfeel is warm and a little bit sticky , but not too much so for an IIPA.

Overall, it’s a very nice beer, but it’s not necessarily the holy grain of hops that I thought it might have been. So far as inaccessible-in-Washington hop bombs from San Diego go, I’d prefer a Green Flash IPA any day.

bottle thanx to drmatt. pours hazy gold with with moderate head that sticks well. aroma is strong grapefruit and crystal malt. taste is rindy grapefruit and lots of crystal malt. very balanced and isnt overly bitter. good but a little underwhelmed.

Draft at Stone Brewery. Good hop aroma of citrus, floral and tropical flavors. Good balance of hops and malt and enjoyable overall.