Anderson Valley Hop Ottin IPA

Out of the bottle, poured nice off orange with a white head. Nice aroma full of hops, but the taste disappoints with more malty sweetness than hop bitterness. Overall a solid IPA, not the hop crazy bitterness that is advertised.

Wow, surprised at this rating. Pours light amber, aroma of some hops, caramel sweetness. Nice and hoppy, medium mouthfeel. Good but not remarkable IPA.

Two finger cream colored head dissolves slowly leaving good lacing over a clear honey amber body. Nice, but not strong, citrus and piney fir aromas. The alcohol is a tad pronounced, but there’s a nice dance of strong bitter hops and sweet malts on the tongue. Residual dry minty pucker after it all goes down. Worth watching for on tap.

Pours a cloudy orange amber color with a flat head of small bubbles. The nose is full of citrus hops and lemon grass. It has a fresh taste with lots of initial hop flavor. That fades quick and turns into molassas sweet caramel toffee. Overall it has good carbonation and smooth on the palate, very refreshing.

Pours a clear, orangey gold from the 12oz. bottle: Earthy and resiny, that’s given. Disappointed in the sour/soapy mouthfeel after it goes down the hatch. Pretty citrusy. Drinkability: AV’s IPA comes short to other IPAs out there. It lacks the "fullness" that follows from generous flavors of grass, pine, and florals. Rebuy: It’s still pretty darn good, so I’d buy again. #164 on 26102009, DG.

Bottle: Deep orange pour with a creamy tan fluffy head. Evident citrusy and resiny Northwest hops in the aroma. Some earthy twiggy/vegetal hop richness- chewy and hempy. Richly resiny and clean. Has a slightly soapy mouthfeel. Quite an oily nd resiny flavor. The caramel malt backbone provides just enough body. The middle has a touch of brief citrus followed by lots of resiny vegetal hempiness. Earthy, oily and resiny long bitterness at the end. A richly resiny IPA- well done.

A dependable IPA that has enough of a malt backbone to mask the bittering hops, letting the floral sneak through. Unfortunately I like a little more citrus hops up front, so this fails to be a great IPA in my book.

12 ounce bottle available as single from Trader Joe’s. Pours a dark amber color with small off-white head. Aroma consists of sweet citrus and resiny hops. There’s also quite a lot of sweet malts in the nose as well -- somewhat reminiscent of a barley wine. Flavor has some (bitter) hops but the (sweet) malt is really there too. Not your normal West Coast IPA. There’s a certain harshness to the flavor as well as noticeable booze, both of which distract somewhat.