Bristol Edge City IPA

22oz Bomber received this in big trade with russpowell, thanks again Russ! Bristol’s Edge City pours a polished copper with good clarity. Few carbonation bubbles present that head slowly to the surface. A big billowy three finger ivory head formed on the pour and left big chunky lace on its way down the glass and finally settling to a healthy fingers worth of dense cragginess. This is an excellent looking IPA. A big lush caramel and toasty maltiness is the first thing to hit the nose and forms an excellent base for this IPA. The maltiness quickly drops back and a solid hopping comes forth to steal the show. The hops consist of a good deal of fruitiness including ripe orange, bitter grapefruit, and a touch of apricot all in that order of intensity. There’s even a mint-like hop character that when added to the clean alcohol fumes really brings out all the hoppiness. I like the aroma of this beer more and more as I continue to smell. A blast of sweet caramel right up front quickly transitions into a mild toasted maltiness. The hops, again, are the showcase of this beer and have a great depth. Orange and bitter grapefruit dominate but there are hints of pine, mint, and apricot on the finish. The low level clean alcohol fumes make the hops more pronounced on this beer which is exactly what I like to see. The mouthfeel is moderate but moves through the mouth at a quick pace thanks to the ample carbonation. The carbonation keeps this beer moving without being too aggressive. Finishes a bit dry which accentuates the hops even more. I could easily sit back and polish off a couple of these in a night. Edge City goes down extremely easily and is a treat on a warm day like today. This is a damn fine IPA from Bristol Brewing. I’d like to get my hands on a couple more of these and if it was local would be a mainstay in my fridge. 6/5/08

22oz bottle pours unfiltered soft peach in color with a full, foamy white head. Instant nose of citrus juice: mandarin oranges, pineapple, mango, lemon juice, etc. Bitterness is medium to heavy, flavor is more catty than the nose, unexpected with the c-note hops, but still has a lot of juiciness, some sweetness, turning to some dry pine wood in the finish. Tasty.

Draft at brewery. On nitro. One thing nitro does to a nice, hoppy IPA is to smooth out that raspy finish. At first sip, I wished that this was on CO2 instead. But by the end, it was going down smoothly and I somewhat appreciated that. Long-lasting, off-white head. Bubbly medium amber body. The aroma was full of flowers, grapefruit, apricot, citrus with some notes of caramel and hints of apricot and peach. The flavor is moderately sweet and moderately bitter. The finish is moderately bitter, but only lightly sweet. Medium body with a smooth as silk texture from the nitro. Hopped up carbonation, or is it nitration?

22oz bottle courtesy BeerandBlues2. Slightly cloudy copper pour with a thin white head. Huge floral citrus pine aroma. Chewy, malty, grassy citrus hop taste. Could have used a bigger malt presence, a little thin. Tasty nonetheless.

Pours a nice light cloudy amber with a big whitish head. Smell is fruity and nice, but a bit mild. Taste is crisp and hoppy with a nice balance but a bit of a hoppy lingering bitterness and light sweet maltiness. Overall pretty solid IPA. much more enjoyable than their DIPA that I had a while back. Good beer.