Estes Park Renegade

Brewed by Estes Park Brewery
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Estes Park, Colorado USA

Date: 08/19/2007
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting, Ticker Tasting

clear amber, wispy beige head, drippy lace, sweet sugary grapefruit aroma, lots of citrus hop flavor on a sweet caramel backbone, nice long balancing bitterness

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 13/20
Rating: 3.4/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: **+/4

Barrel Draught from the jug at the GABF, Colorado Convention Center 29/09/2005 Golden coloured and very hoppy. Crisp on the palate with a bitter lasting finish.

Poured dark mahogany color with a smaller sized off white head. Lots of large floaters. Aromas of light grapefruit and even lighter pine. Tastes of the same with caramel malts. Thin and somewhat watery body. Let down, especially since the label says it was a ’93 GABF Gold Medal IPA winner.

on tap-pours a tan head, golden brown color. Aroma-good hops. Taste is hoppy. Laces nicely.

Pours a hazy copper with very little head. Fresh western hoppy aroma and a touch of pale malt. Dry bittersweet body has nice caramel flavor and a crisp hoppy finish. A very nice IPA.

Chill haze very noticable after pouring the bottle... when it was pouring it was clear medium amber colored, but as it sits in the glass and is chilled, there is a murky haze present. The aroma has a caramel notes, crystal malts perhaps... a bit nutty with some of those smells coming from the yeast, I suspect. The hops smell a little old, a little musty, but the cascade are still sweet and a little spicy. Big musty hop flavor with a metallic twang malt flavor that resembles homebrew. The metallic and burnt nut flavors almost make this IPA undrinkable... really not appealing to me at all, it’s just my preference for certain types of IPAs. Finishes dry with the chinook coating the mouth with a scorched, dry, leafy parched texture. Not a complicated or unique IPA, this one pretty much tastes like the standard homebrew IPA kit recipe.

Slightly hazy dark amber with a golden/tan head. Dry pine and orange marmalade aroma. Dry start and finish. sweetens as it warms. Pine flavors are very acerbic in the finish. Decent malt linger. Way to sharp in the finish to rate higher as an IPA.

Head is initially small, frothy, off-white, mostly diminishing. Body is dark amber. Aroma is moderately hoppy (grapefruit), lightly yeasty (dough), lightly malty (toasted grain). Flavor is moderately sweet, moderately acidic, moderately bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, moderately acidic, heavily bitter. Medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation, moderately astringent. Rather crude...heavy on the grapefruit with some raw doughy yeast and drab malt character, unbalanced, astringent, etc. Rough sketch of a beer, as with most other Estes Park brews.