AleSmith YuleSmith (Summer) India Pale Ale

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

(Big thanks to Stephen [DarkElf] for this bottle!) Amber body with a creamy white head. Awesome lacing. Loads of dank citrus hop aroma, with a little bit of a ’juicy fruit’ touch. Creamy mouthfeel. Very oily, with a huge hop presence. A little bit of doughy malt, but mainly a hop monster. It makes me think that someone squeezed a fresh hop cone(or two, or five) right into the bottle. Finishes warm, with a slightly fruity note. Not as hoppy as Bear Republic’s Racer X, but thats a good thing in my opinion, for this is ultra hoppy, but a bit more drinkable. Thanks again Stephen, you’re the man!

Sampled from draught at AleSmith Brewing Company.
Dark orange beer with a creamy light tan head. Full and nice aroma, sweet malty and caramelly. Full in the flavor too, mostly sweet with hoppy notes and some citrus and spices also. No sign of the rather high ABV. Very soft and smooth and just another world class beer from the amazing AleSmith!!!

22 oz bottle. Poured amber/orange in color with thick off white fluffy head. Lots of lacing. Floral and citrus hop aroma with earthy malt in the background. Tastes of piney and citrus hops with a good malt backbone. Spicy, bitter finish. Very well balanced for an IIPA.

Bottle. Cloudy orange copper color with thin off-white head. Aroma is strong with hops and citrus fruits. Taste is awesomely malty and sweet with a good hop kick. Grapefruit, earthy notes, dry finish. Now THIS is what I expect when I open up an Alesmith bottle.

wow! this is a gem of a beer... in the big ipa genre pushing up towards a barley wine...seems like many of these styles are blending together these days. a copper haze in the glass with nice carbonation of tan mushroom head. nose mostly of citrus pine hop tones. the alcohol is not hidden in this beer. you get some warm sweet tones through out the beer. suttle apple, bold flavors of pine citrus, grape fruit and vanilla bounce around your tongue. the balance here is what impressed me the back bone was pushed with large malt flavors that corrugate and stick to your soft palate giving a velvety texture. a full thick beefy beer. easier to drink then you would think from my description. simply delicious.

Bomber picked up in 2008, consumed 11-13-2009. Big, off-white head, fluffy, lumpy, rings, sheets, and cross-thatch of lace. Body is orange-hued, hazy, and sparkling in a soothing manner--not hyperactive like champaign, but steady and plentiful. The aroma is honeyed, floral, bready, light notes of orange julius and pine. The body is medium-full, with a little coarse carbonation, an almost velvety palate, and a dry finish. It feels nice in the mouth. After all these months the beer is still hoppy-yet-balanced. Up front it’s honeyed, heavily floral, and then it breaks into a yeasty dough, almost sour. While the hops are present throughout, they’re layered beneath the other flavors and gradually come to the top: tons of flowers with pine, citrus notes of orange, hints of the white pulp of a grapefruit rind, almost some pineapple-like tropical notes that are blended with the slight alcoholic astringency of the finish. Even the hoppy finish is balanced. I’m impressed that the beer is still really wonderful after aging so long as an IPA, a style that is often ruined by aging. The beer’s a masterpiece. Warming, relaxing, rewarding. Bottled: consumed 4-1-2006. Huge fluffy head, lumpy as it sits down a little bit, leaving behind gobs and sheets of off-white lace. The body beneath is amber, hazy; the head above never goes away, it’s big and it sticks around...the top of my beer was never seen. Aroma is sweet and smoothe, bready and malty, balanced and rich. Highly sniffable. Noticeabely yeasty, citrusy, sweet, complex and dynamic. Mouth is fullish, carbonation is light and smoothe (flattish), the finish lightly dry. Flavor is malty and balanced. Caramel, fruit, wheat bread dough, citrus and pine on the finish--alcohol very well hidden (although providing some warmth as it warms up). Quite mellow for an IPA on bitterness, but this beer is BIG! Thick, rich, aromatic, yeasty, malty...so well blended, nice and drinkable. No rip your tonsils out bitter end...it’s just...pleasant...refreshing...delicious... Aro 10 Appearance: 5 Taste: 9 Palate: 4 Overall: 19 4.7

amazing double ipa. had a hercules and was unimpressed. this one though was great.

Bottle from jjpm74. Nose is very floral and citric. Body is almandine wuth a thick film of bubbles. Taste-magic. Pure magic. Citric zest, pine, raisin, maple syrup, crystal malt, sweet caramel, vanilla. It reminds me of a mild American style BW. Very, very good.