Blue Frog The Big DIPA

Brewed by Blue Frog Grog and Grill
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Fairfield, California USA

Date: 01/12/2008
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting, Cellar Party

hazy orange, wispy white head, sweet crystal malt aroma with a big earthy hop character bordering on astrengent, lots of hop flavor, lots of earthy character, long bitter finish, touch of astrengency,

Aroma: 5/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 5/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 9/20
Rating: 2.6/5.0
Drinkability: 5/10
Score: *4

22oz bottle shared courtesy of weeare138 - special thanks to Tom for verifying with the Brew Pub that they bottle beer (inside joke there). Poured a medium amber color with an averaged sized off white head. Aromas of citrus, tropical fruits, and caramel. Tastes of caramel, pine, citrus, and tropical fruits.

Bottle... O-Town Christmas Gathering ‘07... Clear golden ale with a small, creamy, white head. Excellent retention. Grainy aroma with herbal hops and notes of honey and resin. Medium-bodied and creamy with feather-soft carbonation. Heavily sweet up front; boozy and medium bitter on the backside. Lengthy, bittersweet finish.... more sweet than bitter. Thanks go out to CaptainCougar for bringing the bottle down with him!

(750ml Bottle) Pours a clear carbonated golden body with a large rocky off-white head. Aroma of mustiness, floral, citrus, toffee, and toasted oats. Flavor of caramel, floral hops, toasted malt, and some soapiness with a dry, bitter finish.

Bottle sampled on 12/27/07: Pours a transparent orange bronze with a wispy-lacing white head. Has a fresh piny earthy green nose with some sugary caramel maltiness. Body starts sweet and resiny English hoppy with some grapefruity notes and sticky caramel toffee toward a warming earthy finish. Needs a little more balance and smoothness, but not that bad.

Bottle: Cloudy orange, nice thin head and good lacing. Nose of bright clove and citrusy hops, tart yeast, light malt and moderate alcohol. The flavor is too yeasty and unbalanced, dry and bitter. Nice nose and grassy citrus. Strong alcohol and funky, earthy yeast in the tail.

Aroma of citrus, sweet malt and yeast. A candy sweetness as the glass approaches the lips. Orange gold color with frothy white head that persisted. Less than medium bodied. A candy sweetness, a fruitiness, a big alcohol hit in the nose. The finish, after the sugar drains away, is fairly balanced, not too dry, and leaves decent bitter. There’s a woody note. Seems very much like a Belgian attempt at an IPA. If it was an import, I bet it would be getting higher ratings.

Corked bottle and served in my GI IPA tulip:

First off, WTF is with the low ratings? Sure this isn’t top 100 material but it also is not a frickin 2.76 beer either. What the F are U people drinking?

Cloudy bottle conditioned amber hue with a fading frothy white head and good lace. The aroma has notes of orange zest, apricot, grapefruit, bready and caramel malts, a lot of pepper and fennel spice esters, and a hint of woody dryness.

The taste is a bit of letdown after the nose BUT it is not that awful. Sweet and syrupy with a layer of pungent hop bitterness. If this was fresher (aka dry-hopped) it would rock. I also get a good amount of fruit and hop spice towards the finish. The mouth feel is lush and medium-bodied, warming and slightly phenolic.

I fear that the lemmings have piled on this beer. Sure it is hardly world-class but it is not even remotely as bad as some made it out to be. Try it with an open mind, thank you.