Coast Range Merry Maker

Formerly brewed at Coast Range Brewing Co.
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Gilroy, California USA

22 oz. bottle, 2004 vintage, generously shared by DarkElf. Pours a beautiful deep amber color with a reddish tinge and a large but rapidly diminishing beige head. Nice malty aroma, fruity but with slightly oxidized character but still qute nice, a bit dusty, with bold citrus and floral hops as well. Sweet toasty and lightly caramel malts, hops still prominent after a year and a half add lemon and pine flavors. Medium body and lots of lively carbonation.

(22 oz bottle: $2.99 at BevMo in Gilroy, CA) I long ago gave up hope that I’d get to try this unless Coast Range brewed another holiday batch, but miraculously, a bottle was procured. According to the label, this was bottled for the 2004 holiday season, so that puts it at roughly 18 months of age, and thus I expected the hops of this IPA to be pretty much dead, with possible signs of oxidation. Wrong on both accounts! The classic West Coast hoppiness is citrusy and moderately bitter, perhaps even a bit spicy. The solid malt base is moderately sweet, a bit grainy, but has enough muscle to balance the hops. Medium bodied with good carbonation, and like most Coast Range beers, it has that typical dusty and chalky mouthfeel and flavor. Dark ruddy-amber color shows moderate haze. Light-tan head, 1.5 inches tall, slowly settles to a thinning layer with a wide ring. Classic ringed lacing -- 5 of ’em to be exact -- is quite the sight to behold. One can only hope Coast Range will brew (and bottle!) this again as a holiday offering. Very nice.

Handpump at the The Englander. Now this is an IPA. Hoppy aromas, of fruit, flowers. The flavor is very intense (maybe due to lack of any carbonation), again of fruit, and it finishes with this typical bitterness. The beer pours a little darker than most IPAs, and it is medium-bodied. This is obviously the 2005 edition by the way.

Bomber poured a hazy reddish copper with an amber head. Aromas of grass, oranges, and carmel. Palate was medium bodied with a resiny feel to it. Flavors of carmel,grass, grapefruit rind with a pleasantly bitter, dry finish.

Bottle: Amber, small sudsy white head, spotty lacing, light carbonation.   Straight forward hoppy nose.   Decent hop bite, considering it was brewed/bottled for the 2004 Holiday season.   Very soft tea or tobacco leaves are noticable.   Average body and mouthfeel.   Lingering tobacco leaves.   Decent IPA, sturdy.   Thanks HoppedHead for sharing!

Hoppy aroma with fruit and some malty molasses that makes it not quite ideal. Still a nice aroma. Very nice hazy amber/copper body with very small particalia. Off white to light tan head. Hoppy and bitter flavor; tastes like it smells. Very good. Not sure why this is billed as a holiday beer. I didn’t taste any of the spices that are added to the typical holiday beer. Glad I didn’t wait until December to drink this. Palate is a little disorganized. Molasses, tannins, dark chocolate and some dust. A little odd that I found this in late June at Whole Foods, Redwood City.

Full aroma rife with chunky, viscous maltiness and a sticky, fruity hoppiness. Still quite a hoppy nose for being perhaps a few months past its optimal date. Reminds me in the nose a lot of Drake’s IPA (a good thing). Flavor is quite sweet with a lot of body for a sub-6% beer, but not too much. Flavor proves to be not quite as bold as the aroma, but still good. Very floral and with a quite assertive but comfortable bitter edge. Quite tasty stuff! I’ll be looking for some others from this brewery. Only flaw is that it’s just a touch too sweet.

This was an excellent west coast IPA. Pours copper with with fine medium head. Aroma is of hops citrusy and floral. Aroma also had lots of malt to balance. This was a nice full bodied IPA with a real nice thick and smooth mouthfeel. Plenty of bitterness present. Aftertaste is bitter and sticks. Very good.