AleSmith YuleSmith (Summer) India Pale Ale

Pours a translucent golden amber with a medium foamy and lacing off white head. Aroma of orange, some pine and floral hops, caramel, tropical fruits, lots of citrus going on yet a strong malt presence as well. Flavor is a mix of grapefruit, pine, floral, orange and caramel. Starts off hoppy with a great caramel malt to balance...followed by a great hop bitterness. Very well done IIPA.

Bottle from nolankowal. Light amber body with a large pillowy, off-white head. The aroma is mango, grapefruit, orange and just a touch of caramel. One of the best citrus hop noses I’ve experienced. The flavor is moderately sweet caramel and toffee, bitter orange rind and grapefruit. The caramel sweetness really wears on me as I work my way through this one. Medium/full body with a chewy texture and bitter, dry finish with a touch of tartness.

Poured an amber color with a tight, creamy, off white head that left nice lacing on the glass. Aroma of pine, resiny, tobacco, citrus fruits, toffee, and a floral hoppiness. Taste of more pine, with grapefruit bitterness, caramel malts and a bit of alcohol in the finish. Creamy mouthfeel.

Bottle split with Tronraner, Muenster. Pours slightly see through copper with a firm white head. The aroma is a blast of huge grapefruit, pine, caramel, and soil. The flavor is big with sweet lemon zes, fresh oranges, and hints of lemon drop candies. The finish is loaded down with drying grapefruit acidity and just a medium-high level of bite. Very enjoyable IIPA, but more on the tasteful side of this obnoxious style rather than being overly aggressive.

Bottle, split with NachlamSie and Tronraner. Pours hazy gold with a fluffy off-white head. The aroma is very fruity, tons of grapefruit, citrus, sweet cane sugar, and caramel malts. The flavor is a bouquet of citrus, grapefruit, pear, caramel, and a hint of lemon. Finishes spicy and a little warm. Revisit 9/7/08 Pours hazy orange with a big off-white head, mostly lasting. As it slowly dissipates, nice lacing is revealed. Aroma is huge hops, classic west-coast style (lots of pine, resin, grapefruit, cannabis) with a dark perfume-y sweetness (not like church-lady perfume at all though) Flavor is bursting with hops, even more than the aroma leads on. The most amazing thing is the balance. Nothing stands out as out of place at all, yet almost any of the numerous flavors from hops can be detected. The finish is nice and bittersweet, but still rather aggressive. Mouthfeel isn’t too thick, but this beer feels really big, almost like the fullness in the flavor creates something you could bite into. I really liked this beer before, but I am even more impressed on this re-visit!

poured a hazy orange with a thick white head. very sweet (caramel and warthers orginals) and hoppy aroma, citrus, grapefruit. tasted VERY sweet, need a little more hop flavor and bitterness to balance it out. still delicious with a great smooth mouthfeel and a slightly sweet finish. pretty good but could use a little better balance.

Bottle (650ml - 2006 vintage). Rating #1800. Cloudy deep orange, huge fluffy-fizzy off-white head. Huge hop aroma, citrus and funky-herbal, spruce, resin - quite a medley, but also a massive juicy malt backbone - near perfect to my nostrils. Taste follows right on, hop medley, solid malt, pretty solid alcohol, all shifting and mixing to a medium length balanced juicy finish - the hops never overwhelm, but they’re there in quantity. Pretty solid body, nice astringency and carbonation, nice ear-tingling alcoholic body, long hop linger, but again, not overwhelming, just ... solid. Awesome I2PA - I prefer (slightly) the winter version because of the bigger malt profile, but this is pretty awesome too!

Bottle from realale420. Pours mahagony with a patchy and rocky off-white head, edgy. Aroma is huge hops (pine, floral and citrus), caramel nutty lightly roasted malt (biscuit), yeast (sour dough) and a perfume alcohol nose. Heavy bitterness, moderate acidity, malt and yeast flavor is overpowered by the hoppy flowers, citrus bite and pine sweetness. Medium bodied, fizzy and dry palate.