Left Hand 400 lb Monkey

Brewed by Left Hand Brewing Co.
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Longmont, Colorado USA

Served on draft at Beer Run in Charlottesville, VA. Pours a clear amber color with a medium head. Excellent head retention and phenomenal lacing. A damn good looking beer. Unfortunately the aroma is not so good. Very weak and faint with only a hint of leafy hops. The taste is a resinous hop bomb with tons and tons of pine notes. Pretty much like drinking a spruce tree. Very faint notes of caramel and bread in the finish. Medium bodied with a good hop burn. Good beer. If not for the weak aroma it’d be great.

20oz tap @ BSP. Clear golden color. White head. aroma of hops. flavor is a basic malt, sharp pine bitterness. kinda light and boring. where are the 400lb monkeys? 4,4,6,3,12. 23 Jul 09

Unclemattie shared this with me at brickstore. Amber pour. Hops are light on the aroma, well lighter than I expected. Floral hops more than the strong citrus hops that I expected. Flavor is malty and hoppy and pretty smooth. I think this is a bit underrated, but not much.

Tap at Ginger Man (NYC). Pours a clear copper amber color with a thin head. Some lacing along the glass. More maltiness in the aroma than I was initially expecting from an IPA. Minimal citrus/pine hops. The flavor was decent but I expected much more hop character from an IPA.

I have been wondering how one would/could come across this beer, and then tonight it happened. I went to the Brick Store Pub and had this on tap. It was pretty good. I think a 73 percentile score is a bit too low. The beer had a nice head. Left great lacing. Coppery/orange beer. Nice hop aroma. Not so much sweet. Very distinct hop flavor as well. Fairly creamy. Again, there was this sharp hop flavor that cut through the malt and just hit my tastebuds like crazy. The beer overall is not very complex; just a nice bitter hop flavor that cuts through the malt and leaves you happy.My experience wasn’t a malty one. Again, tap at Brick Store Pub, Decatur, Georgia.

On tap at the Flying Saucer in KC. Pours a mostly clear, deeper orange body with a dense and creamy, off-white head that dissipates slowly and leaves a good amount of lacing. Aroma is sweet with some fatter caramels and sweet, piney citrus. A light resin and some toasty toffee comes in as this warms. Flavor is much more of a deep caramel and toffee flavor with more of a heavy earth bitterness, but not much of it. Still maintains a light pine to it, but not nearly as sweet as the aroma led me to believe. Has a flat and doughy taste to the malts. Some citrus comes in at the end where it dries and leaves a dark toffee, citrus bitterness that lingers for a moderate length. Palate is medium bodied with a bit of chewiness. Overall, the taste doesn’t quite come together for me. The deeper bitterness seems a little brief and collides with the darker caramels and toffee flavors awkwardly. Its not terrible tasting, but disappointing.

Tap at Rattle n Hum: Pours a deep copper with an off white sporadic film. Very malty/husky/grainy aroma- bird feed like and starchy with some residual maltose. Grainy flavor- pale malt husk and caramel sweetness. Not enough hop character. Eh. Boring and under-hopped. (I’m thinking the bartender served me the wrong beer- I may have to re rate this one.)

Growler from New Beer. Pale amber beer with a thick white head. Aroma is quite hoppy. Rich grapefruit and a light spicy note as well. Lightly sweet biscuity malts. Flavour is very well-balanced. Nice soft hoppy character with lots of grapefruit and orange peel. Nothing crazy or over-the-top, but it is a very tasty, well-balanced hoppy IPA.