Fort Collins Rocky Mountain IPA

Brewed by Fort Collins Brewery
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Fort Collins, Colorado USA

12oz bottle courtesy of Degarth. Thanks buddy. The pour is rather striking with clear copper body and slightly frothy yet slightly creamy tan head and cobweb lacing. The initial drag of aroma starts with pine and grassiness and then becomes tart grapefruit. Between the hop notes is a stream of sweet maltiness. The taste doesn’t seem to have pine hops initially but rather grapefruit hop bitterness bordering on wet/green hop leafs. Midway a pine hop bitterness becomes more and more apparent until it becomes the strongest flavor component into the finish along with lightly roasted malts and mild malt sweetness. Very nice tasting IPA but the aroma is a bit too subtle keeping it from being a great IPA to me.

Pours hazy dark orange. Thick palate for an IPA and has the aggressiveness of a double IPA in the flavor. Apparently, it’s not for everyone, but I like it. Citrusy, grapefruity, nice piney bitterness. Might be slightly soapy finish to some, but mostly works for me. I think it’s underrated overall.

12 oz. bottle courtesy of Naka. Pours hazy copper with huge, rocky, off-white head. Pretty decent lacing. Nose is earthy and piny hops. Caramel and toffee are prevalent with a floral and piny hop flavor and an earthy bitterness at the end that lingers well into the after. Decent, run-of-the-mill IPA.

Slightly cloudy amber with a bubbly, soapy off-white head. Strong floral and grapefruit aroma. This tastes like thyme to me. Very grainy and abrasive, not balanced at all. Unpleasant to drink.

An enormous aroma on the pour, powerful floral, citrus, and piney hops. A lot of carbonation and a disappearing thin white head. Another nice but not great IPA. The taste is citrusy, lots of grapefruit and some floral hops. Sits very bitter on the palate and finishes bitter. It’s nice to see the style so embraced by craft brewers. But there is a clear difference between the good and the greats.

The aroma is the stand out nice part of this beer, as the piney/floral notes explode much more than your a average ipa. The flavor is less appealing, but still very good. Could use a bit more maltbackbone as the resiny hop flavors come off as a bit bracing.

12oz - Aroma of caramel malt and citrus hops. Pours transparent brown with a medium head and great lacing. Flavor matches aroma with the hops being more intense and a little hot. Palate is crisp and tart. A nice session IPA if you don’t want to forget you’re drinking an IPA after a couple.

Pours clear red brown with mild carbonation and a thin white head, decent retention. Aroma is citrus and hops. Taste is bitter hops and lemon. A little caramel sweetness. Slight tang in the finish.