Granite City Duke of Wellington India Pale Ale

Brewed by Granite City Food & Brewery
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
St. Louis Park, Minnesota USA

Sample at the Day Before Labor Day party, from a growler. This beer is a cloudy dark orange color with a thin off-white head that diminishes quickly. Spotty lacing on the glass. Mild hops aroma with notes of pine. Medium body with a moderately bitter hops flavor with notes of pine and citrus. Very little malt balance. The finish is hoppy with a short bitter aftertaste. Just average overall.

Pours cloudy orangish, amber and bearely has enough carbonation to hold even a few bubbles on the head. Light, sour, citrus aroma of hops. Flavor is bland to begin with, but then takes a good twist and gets hoppy, floral, and sweet, and citrusy hoppy good. Then, it turns really bitter as it finishes out. Its really a nice experience.

I hate this place, but when one came to town, I had to try all the beers. This is probably their best, but that’s not saying much. It’s bitter, but still weak somehow.

An okay IPA. Pours amber with a thin off white head. Light aroma of pine and grassy hops with a little bit of malt. A decent amount of bitterness, but the malt sort of slowed this beer down and didn’t let the hops come out.

Pours clear medium amber with a 2 finger foamy off white head that has decent retention. Aroma is caramel, biscuit, a little toast, some citrus, lots of planty hops. Flavor is caramel, biscuit and citrus on entry with planty fuggle and yeasty pizza crust finish. Palate is light bodied with a sharp, not too sharp carbonation, wet entry and crisp minerally finish. This stuff is decent as an english style pale ale, but I really don’t see how they get away with calling it an IPA.

11/28/2008: Granite City Duke of Wellington has a hazy, deep honey color. It also has a lasting, frothy beige-colored head. It has a citrus aroma of like grapefruit peel. The flavor has a decent toffee maltiness followed by a decent bitterness. This beer is pretty good, but seems more like a Pale Ale than an IPA.

Draught (pint) at Granite City Food & Brewery in Maumee, Ohio. Rating #87 for this beer.

Tap at Mishawaka "brewpub": Amber hue with a good head and sticky lace. The aroma as notes of resiny and grassy hops, biscuity and caramel malts and a hint of DMS. The taste has clean bitterness balanced by pale and sweet malts, slightly medicinal tones are present. Short and doughy finish. The mouth feel is lively and refreshing. Very so-so, almost kit like in depth and quality.

On draft @ brewpub. Clear copper pour produced a 1-finger ivory head that left some lacing. Aroma is lemongrass, ripe citrus and pine. Flavor is much sweeter than the nose with quite a bit of caramel. Medium mouthfeel. Not bad.