From a 12 oz bottle that cost $1.49 at Corti Bros in Sacramento, this poured an amber-orange with a medium white head and lots of lacing. Nose is a blend of citrus and floral hops, and light malts. Mouhtfeel is quite smooth and feels good in the throat. Flavor is complex, with the aforementioned hops and malts, but also tinges of fruit and other hard to identify flavors. Finish is nicely bitter, however, and over all it is a quite drinkable IPA.

Bottle. Poured a nut brown color, with a half finger of head. Must be either bottle conditioned or an old bottle, as there is a lot of sediment in the glass. This IPA doesnt really carry the nose others do. Has a very distinct nutty flavor that puts me off. Most of the sediment from the bottle are suspended throughout the beer, giving it a dirty grainy look. Overall, I’m not very impressed for a style that I love so much. Perhaps I bought a bad bottle, but I doubt I’ll revisit this with my own money.

12 oz. bottle. Malty aroma backed by fruity/floral aspects. Rich reddish amber color with a white head that ringed. Thin to medium bodied with creamy carbonation. The flavor suggests tea, tobacco, peach, harsh roasted malt, grapefruit hop. The net effect is rather dirty/gritty. So it’s not all that smooth, but it does have impact. The finish is sweet, dry, astringent. Something of an interesting contradiction. As time wears on the fruitiness gains prominence. Some of the annoying characteristics seem to be in the Big Ass brews. There’s enough flavor here to make them tolerable. Interesting overall.

2006 bottle drunk on 3/16/07
Quite a dark IPA. Deep amber-auburn with light tan highlights. Head is small in size, dark beige in color and fairly rapidly recedes to a ring, leaving little/no lacing. Some sediment left on the bottom, but it seems to be just protein break, as all signs point to this being force carbed. Clarity is high.
Very fruity nose. It seems to make use of an English ale yeast or higher than average fermentation temps for an American ale yeast. Fruity, but rather muted, hops, as well, give off notes of peaches, apples and some light floral/leafiness. A bit of bitterness reaches the back of the nostrils, but is eventually consumed by a strong crystal malt character that leaves quite a bit of hardness and crusty breadiness in its place. Smells sort of like raspberry iced tea....Very light orange-tangerine hop notes emerge with warming, as well as a very slight pale malt sweetness, but the aroma remains mostly hard, full of marginal fruitiness and with just too little aromatic, fresh hoppiness.
Similar problems with the flavor, which probably suffer even worse. Seems like it’s just a basic cascade/centennial-like bittering hop charge, that seems soggy, somewhat acidic and certainly not overly flavorful or juicy. Lots of orange peel-like flavor, with a bit of tea-like astringency that is exacerbated by the hard, crusty, tea-like crystal maltiness. Minimal sweetness, an underwhelming texture (loose, somewhat watery) and just lack of anything distinctly enjoyable. No alcohol or flaws, however.

Pour is a amber color with a decent head. First aroma hits you, it’s grapefruit but it’s really muted. Nothing strong or overpowering just an average hoppy nose. Flavors were grapefruity hoppy, but really sweet. Could have been a bit more hoppy but not bad.