Mad River Steelhead Double IPA

Brewed by Mad River Brewery
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Blue Lake, California USA

Pours and smells like a solid IIPA, with copper hue and tan fluffy head, exuding hoppy aroma with pineapple and a hint of malt. Flavor is full, with caramel, pineapple, and a bready dough quality. Not as complex as great IIPA’s, but a solid, easy drinking brew that doesn’t even hint of the almost 9% alcohol. Slight bitter finish cleanses the palate. Very nice.

Poured a hazy orange color with a huge off white head. Aromas of citrus, grass, and resin. Full bodied and sweet with lots of hop flavor. OK for a DIPA but there are much better ones out there.

Poured from the bottle into a snifter. Beautiful orange, with hints of copper and amber. Head dissipates and leaves a white ring, pretty decent lacing. Nose is some grapefruit, with more orange than pine for a change, at least in my experience with IIPAs. The ABV is very well-masked...I’d have judged this about a 6% from taste alone. Piny and citrusy. Not quite a top ten, but damn fine!

A very amberish pour with hints of orange and light white head. Hints of grapefruit on the aroma. Fruity flavor with a light hint of abv. Very even hoppy bitter finish that isn’t harsh at all. Very solid palate almost chewy with good carbonation as well. I took a point away because there was brown stuff in the bottom of the bottle. Chunky stuff, a first for me in an ipa.

Bottle: Murky orange pour with a medium-sized cream head. I’m not real sure what to say about this other than I was slightly disappointed. I’m hoping that this was an old bottle and not the norm. Both the nose and flavor were seriously lacking in a strong hop presence, what little hop character that I could pick up on was muted by a cloyingly sweet caramel malt flavor. Overall it wasn’t horrible by any means...just not what I expect from a IIPA.

Nice hoppy aroma… Pretty golden color… Moderately hoppiness, I’ve had more hoppy beers, but this one won’t overpower you despite its double IPA label… Definitely enjoyable and I would recommend this one unlike the Jamaican Sunset IPA which is for virgin IPA drinkers… Then again, I’m rating this after like 5 or 6 beers, so I might pay more heed to other raters recommendations….. Regardless, it’s a pretty good IPA, and if you want to drink something from Mad River, this is probably the beer to drink….

Bottle. Cloudy caramel amber color. There’s fluffy inch of head in my Unibroue tulip. Nice sticky lacing. Aroma is smooth and safe. Watery hops. Apples and some citrus. Flavor is a bushel of hops with some ripe, crisp apples thrown in for good measure, with a slight tinge of banana. Very smooth, extremely drinkable. Incredible masking of the 8.6%.

Pours a cloudy dark orange to near-tan. Big lacing head. Has a pine flower aroma and a nice frothy head from a decisive pour. What surprised me, was the amount of toasty malt flavor on the initial flavor. Bravo. This IPA has malt balls Finish is a bit astringent and metallic.