Mad River Jamaica Sunset IPA

Bottle... Poured burnt orange with a white head. Aroma is dry and very hoppy, which is a nice preview to the beer. Good dry palate with strong flavors of hops with a slight sweetness from some balancing malt. Grassy and candy-like, hop finish. These guys make good stuff.

Nice thick hazy murk of an orange amber colour here. Looks like pumpkin sludge with a heady light orange/tan top. Muted nose of grass and hay. Flavour of burnt caramel, toasted almonds, unsalted peanut shells, more hay and grass. The only thing I can say about the finish is that it was dry. The main problem I had with this beer was the palate and mouthfeel which were severely lacking in anything remotely sustainable. The other big thing I noticed that while drinking this was that this is listed as an IPA; which it most certainly doesn’t feel like one. It tastes much more like an Amber Ale..even down to the ropey, dry finish. This actually might turn a few heads if they work on this formula a bit more...up the water quality, give it a bit more malty backbone, drive it a little further with some spice content and then list it as an Amber. Well, it would make more sense (and be twice as drinkable) to me, at least.

Bottle from By the Bottle in Portland, OR--Poured a deep dark rich amber-ornage body with a big whitish head. Sticky, hoppy, malty, caramel (lots of this) in the nose. Sweet caramel bitterness, almost honey-like on the tongue. A little bit too much caramel and cloying maltiness. Hops were nice, but the beer was a tad unbalanced. Still a solid WCIPA.

Pours a dark and clear orange-amber color with a foamy, well retained, cream colored head. Thick, sticky swaths of foam lacing coats the glass. The aroma is, quite honestly, a total disaster. Overly sweet, honey-infused caramel malts are met with weak, nearly non-existent floral hops and a strange, wilted vegetable note. The flavor is just as bad. Sweet clover honey is completely out of place. Saccharine caramel sugar is just over-the-top, with expired floral hops doing nothing to improve the situation. Buttery diacetyl is nothing short of intrusive. A harsh, soapy, vegetal finish is the straw that broke the camel’s back. Medium bodied and totally cloying, this has the mouthfeel of warmed maple syrup. Ugh, this is a horrible beer. Reminds me of Struise/Mikkeller Elliot brew, but infinitely more messy and undrinkable. Drain pour.

This beer pours a cloudy orange colour with a medium sized white head. A noticeably large amount of sediment floats throughout the glass. Aroma is well hopped, and slightly piney. Mouthfeel is full, well carbonated, creamy with flavors are of grapefruit, lime and apricots.