Alpine Beer Company OBriens IPA

Brewed by Alpine Beer Company (CA)
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Alpine, California USA

Pours a golden orange hue with a hint of red and a small slight off white head. Aromas are light. Very light. The beer was served very cold and even as it warmed the aromas still weren’t present. Flavors of diacytel, banana with a light hop bitterness. I will have to try it again as I may have had a bad batch as I know that Tom and Pat are awesome brewers.

tap at Stone Bistro - You know, I don’t think they indicate which Alpine IPA they have on tap (O’Brien’s or Bad Boy), but this one appears to be the latest one making it’s way around the San Diego area, so I’ll go with it. It pours copper with a nice, lingering white head. There are citrus and flower notes in the hop heavy aroma. The taste of light caramel malts are balanced well with the assertive hops bitterness. Medium bodied and certainly enjoyable, this IPA is well done.

On tap at the new Liars club. I’ve been looking forward to trying this to increase my number of Alpine ratings. Very, very flowery hoppy aroma. Great arom. Mild hop bitterness. Clear amber color. Frothy cask-like microfoam head. Relatively easy to drink.

On-tap at Churchill’s this past week. Pours orange yellow with a thick, frothy, white head. Decent lace. Smells citrusy with a grassy background. Tastes citrusy and hoppy, grapefruit, lemon, grass, a bit resiny. Medium body, not too thick for a big IPA. Carbonation is good but fades quickly. Pretty good IPA.

Tap@O’brian’s. Dude...where did you get those hops? Wonderful aroma. Strong raw hop taste which continued long after the glass of goodness was gone.

Draft at O’briens. This IPA was decent flavors of hops and some sweet malts. The balance leaned towards the bitterness. Pretty good though.

Draft at O’Brien’s. Awesome aromas coming off this golden copper ale. Apricot and citrus. Vanilla in there too. Flavors were more hops. Floral and green, and citrus fruit. Very Good.

On tap @ San Diego Brewing brewpub. Pours a clear deep gold with lasting wisp of a white head. The aroma is big and in your face with copious amounts of fresh grapefruit hops and a decent backbone of malts and then a bit of spice hops. Excellent tasting IPA. Yum. It begins with a rush of grapefruit hops that are both bitter and sweet and they seem to be growing more and more bitter as the taste moves forward. A tasty level of malts is also there to play against the hop flavor and bitterness. Well balanced example of the classic West Coast IPA.