Breckenridge 471 Small Batch IPA

Brewed by Breckenridge Brewery
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Denver, Colorado USA

Got a bottle at the local package store. It pours a nice rich color, with a pretty light head that leaves reasonably quick leaving a small white oily top. The aroma is bread laced with hops. Much more malty than one would expect in an IPA. The taste is as malty as I expected with a solid hops finish. The end result is a bit of metal left in the center of my palate. All in all, it is decent beer. On a positive note, it is very well balanced, that is not enough to make a decent beer great. Think of it as a session beer for people with an extremely high threshold for alcohol.

I know I’m not crazy: This was not "more hoppiness than I’ve ever had at one time." If this is a small batch that garnered so much attention that you just HAD to put it in bottles, it should stand up to run-of-the-mill IPAs, much less the pungent profiles put out by Bells, Three Floyds or, hell, Foothills (Winston-Salem, NC). I’m sorry, this was big bready malt with subdued hops. Not overly sweet, but certainly no hop monster. I wouldn’t even call this beer balanced: Bready malt dominates. There was some spice from the hops, but nothing worth mentioning. Hard to believe the use of such high-alpha hops could produce such an unbalanced beer....dominated by the malt!!!! Perhaps this bottle is old (a good reason to print/mark a batch number/date). Points for lack of alcohol bite. Altogether, forgettable.

On tap at Papagos. Very smooth, yet hoppy. Poured a golden amber. Full flavored, yet you can taste a bit of the 9.2% alcohol in this stuff. The hops in this one are very balanced. SECOND ANALYSIS: Bottled, this loses a lot of charm and flavor. Get this fresh.

12oz bottle poured in a tulip glass. B471SBIPA pours cloudy and orange with a small head. The nose is mostly hop oil. There’s not a lot of other things in it. This IPA is metallic and acidic. The acid isn’t bad but the metal isn’t good. There really isn’t much depth to the flavor, it’s just a big ball of hops. I’m rather disappointed in it. The body is chewing and oily with a long-lasting after-taste.

Strange hop aroma that smelled like body odor. Tasted completely different though. Taste was dominated by grapefruit hops. No alcohol presence. Easily drinkable for a 9% beer. Very full flavored.

The folks at Purvs in Peckville, PA, talked me into sampling a Breck beer despite my initial experiences and this one has a nice dark malty wheat and hoppy blend. The aroma has an odd perfume like cleaner thing going on and I was afraid I would be disappointed but the beer delivered a pleasant blend of flavors. It does seem a bit light colored and malty for a double IPA. But the hoppy blast makes itself known in the aftertaste more than it does in the in initial sip. Strong hints of vanilla arise there as well.

Pour was a dark golden color with a creamy white head. Some lacing on the glass. Aroma of hops. Taste is also hoppy with a good amout of malt present. Much more malt than other IIPAs. Overall, this doesn’t seem like an IIPA to me, maybe more like a pale ale. Needless to say, alcohol well hidden and hops are not overpowering.

12 oz bottle. This wasnt bad. Poured reddish amber body. The aroma was of arm pits - no joke. Very strange aroma. The taste is grapefruit and hops.