AleSmith YuleSmith (Summer) India Pale Ale

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

2006. Peach/orange colored pour. Dense, rolling white head, composed of miniscule white bubbles. From within these small orbs explode large bubbles. Great head retention, unrelenting, immovable. Aromas of apricot, honey, piney hop resin, narrowly escaping sugary maltiness. Smell so soft and supple. Taste confirms the aroma is not an illusion. Vicious malts seemingly overwhelmed by very agressive, spicy PNW hops. Earthy grapefruit, sharp acidity leading to a very dry finish. The alcohol is not well hidden, but this is a lovely treat nonetheless. Excellent.

Pours a rich copper-red body beneath a small frothy white dome. Floral hops effervescence that greatly translates through to flavor and finish. Great blend of malts and potent hops. Somewhat piny and resinous. Stinging bitterness, but not overly so. Really nice brew!

Bittersweetness, hoppy which I like very much, but dissapears leaving a acidity, long, dry finish that you can taste way after you’ve drink this. Full bodied and smooth textured. It’s the Liberty Ale from Anchor on steroids. I loved it!

I thought this was excellent. Not your super hopped up, nothing else flavor. It was well balanced, for IIPA, or so I felt. One individiual asked me if I could smell a little holiday cheer in this one, and in the middle of the heat wave we have had here, a nice refreshing smell of the christmas floral was very nice. Maybe it was my nose playing tricks on me, but I could smell the season. There was also the floral taste on this one followed by a warm alocohol feel. Excellent.

hey hank, you got the prickly heats?? .. .. very hoppy, but amazing .. so clean .. .
I want to hang a map of the world in my house then I’m gonna put pins into all the locations that I’ve travelled to. But first I’m gonna have to travel to the top two corners of the map so it won’t fall down.

Pours a slightly-hazy amber with good-sized white head that lasts. Very sweet smelling for an IPA, with citrus and other fruits dominating. In the mouth, the alcohol is quite evident. It starts out sweet, with similar notes as the aroma, plus a pretty pronounced hit of caramel, malt and vanilla. Finishes balanced. Possibly the best IPA I’ve ever had.

Pours a deep amber, with an impressive off-white head. The nose is a massive hop tartness, with a sharp floral snap. As the head dies down, it laces down the glass, before any sip. Lighter in body that I expected, the hops are quite strong. The finish is dry, leaving only the hops.

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!