Brewers Alley IPA

Brewed by Brewers Alley Restaurant & Brewery
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Frederick, Maryland USA

Draught at the brewpub. Pours gold with small off-white head. The aroma is grapefruit hops, some pine, some floral hops, and a touch of candyish caramel. The flavor is caramel and honeyish malts with a piney hop profile. There’s a little bit of a soapy taste in there. Medium bitterness in the finish, but the hop flavor kind of disappears. Ok I guess, but a little bit hollow.

Bottle. Nice dark hops, however that’s possible, slightly sweaty and musty with light citrus and a drenching in earthy caramel. Clear orange pour with a soapy beige head. Taste is strongly bitter and sharply dry, a little nettley orange rind and faint pair under the shaved-off resin. Fullish body with a sandpapery feel. Quenches the thirst, that’s for sure; as for taste, hints at what the best harvest ales achieve but ends up petering out somewhere along the way.

ON CASK at Brewer’s Alley. Wonderful hop aroma! Smells incredibly fresh, like hops on the vine. Taste reflects this as well, and yet it’s surprisingly not bitter. The ratio of hop aroma/flavor to bitterness is very high. The perfect IPA for people who don’t like very bitter beers. Since it’s on cask, it’s fairly warm and very low in carbonation which lets the hops shine through. Malt is present, but stays in the background.

Date: 09/07/08, 12 oz. bottle

Aroma - Caramel and light stone fruits, some spicy hops

Appearance - Clear amber, medium off white head that recedes to a thin layer quickly, but leaves some good lace.

Flavor - Burnt sugar flavors and some sweet fruitiness gives way to a peppery bitterness that is kind of washed out. Flavors are subdued, but no off flavors.

Palate - Medium body and carbonation, finishes dry.

Overall - Just seems a little bland, although quite drinkable, and without glaring flaws. A decent session beer for watching sports and gobbling down junk food.

Bottle courtesy pf beachbum25. Pours copper with a thin white head. Smells of caramel, some roses, citrus. Tastes of caramel with a light peppery undertone. Decent.

on cask (better than on tap)-pours a retaining off white head that laces and copper/amber color. Aroma is nice citrus/pine northwest hops (cascade, Amarillo?), secondary medium malt-caramel. Taste is nice citrus/pine northwest hops (cascade, Amarillo?) with a hit of bitter, secondary medium malt-caramel. Minimum/soft carbonation.

From draught sample at brewpub. Very light malt sweetness in the nose, with surprisingly little hop character. Nothing bad about it, but it’s just weak overall. Medium golden clear, with a thin off-white, lightly lacing head. Medium watery body with medium-heavy carbonation. Starts pretty dry, with a bit of malt sweetness, light caramel and some carbonic acidity. Bittering hops come through at the finish, but not much in the way of huge hop presence. I wouldn’t say this has ’assertive hop bitterness’ as it claims, but more a lack of malt character. Thin.

Bottle from State Line in Elkton, MD. Pours amber with dissipating off white head. Aroma of wet seeping grains and caramel. British malt backbone that is heavy in caramel countered by a moderate herbal hoppiness. Finish has a lingering stong tea note.