Mad River Steelhead Double IPA

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

12oz bottle. Pours cloudy orangish/amber in color with very thin off white head. Aroma of citruis hops. Taste of grapefruit and lite malt with bitter after taste.

12 oz bottle from beerworld of Largo, FL. Hazy deep orange in color. Aroma: Moderately hoppy with citrus and light pine, alot of caramelized malt. Taste is moderately hoppy with citrus and a light to moderate piney bitterness throughtout. This is skewed more towards malt (probably because of it’s age) with alot of pale and caramelized malt sweetness. Finishes lightly bitter with a caramelized sweetness across the tongue. Definitely not fresh, but has aged pretty well and no flaws detected.

A good solid beer. Worth trying. Pours a hazy orangish amber that looks nice in the glass with little to no head. The little head there is disappears very fast but leaves noticable lacing. Smell is citrus with hints of various fruits and pine. The taste is lacking the complexity of some of the better IPA’s such as Great Divide or Dogfish but you can still taste notes of citrus and that strong hop bite, Leaves a bit of a metallic aftertaste that fades to an almost piney citrus note.

Pours amber with a two-finger white head. Interesting aroma: more yeast and malt than hops, it seems. The hops are definitely there, though, citrusy and bitter. Lots of citrus in the flavor, where a respectable hoppiness balances the malty sweetness very well. A touch of soapiness from the hops and a metallic tinge on the finish keep this from greatness.

Bottle. Pours hazy amber orange, off white head. Aroma is tangerine, apricot, malt, peat (I said the dirty word). Flavor is the same, but crisp and hoppy bitter with minimal peat detection. I can drink this.

12oz bottle, fresh, from Aspidites, drunk on 11/7/07
Some sediment left on the bottom and a very peachy-orange color, not your typical pale/golden DIPA. Head is modest, white, fluffy, but dissipates steadily to cover. Light lacing left behind. High clarity.
Lots of bitterness in the nose, with some juicier fruits and a fair amount of pale malt sweetness that interacts with some of the medium malts to give a light caramel aroma. Some breadiness and fresh, tell-tale yeastiness from this brewery (reminds me of their barleywine) provide a dry balance, but seems to take a bit too much focus from the hop aromatics and then leaves you with bready malts and too much hop bitterness. Not to say it isn’t enjoyable, as a fair amount of juicy grapefruit, cherries and lychee are present. And the aroma strength is medium-high, with no alcohol or flaws.
Flavor shows much of the bitterness from the aroma, as well as the juicy citrus profile, but the breadiness/crustiness from the caramel/crystal malts does not seem to have as much as an impact. Some honey and vanilla notes from the malts balance the bitterness while giving a soft mouthfeel. Low amounts of moderately tight carbonation further help to assuage the palate, and the lack of alcohol or flaws is evident. Definitely a bit of earthiness/toastiness and some yeast notes, that you might say distract from the hop focus, but I think they are in low enough amounts, and the palate accustoms itself quickly enough that I think it works ok. Anyways, the beer is well-balanced, though it could use a little less hop tea like bitterness. Good drinkability though. An honest, though rather easygoing DIPA. Texture/carbonation really helps this one.

bottle, from trade with 5000. drank 1/2/08. Ok aroma, sweet. Grapefruit, grass, honey nut cereal. Hazed brownish orange color, good head that faded quickly to a lite foam cover, ok lacing. Bittersweet flavor, big on the bitter, lite on the sweet. Grassiness is the big flavor for me. Medium body, creamy smooth mouthfeel, bitter finish that lingers. Ok, I guess, but I wasn’t enjoying it overall. Aroma had abit more going on than flavor.

great aroma, super hoppy smell that is unfortunately slightly better than the taste. this is a really good beer, but not in the class of great divide’s hercules.