Mad River Steelhead Double IPA

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

Tap. Small, creamy, white head (decent lacing) info clear amber body. Aromas are of strong rubbing alcohol, caramel, and some hops. I was not impressed..might have been better but the overwhelming alcohol aromas dissapoint.

6/10/2007: Mad River Steelhead Double IPA looks cloudy and is dark amber orange in color. There is a finy, creamy beige head that leaves some lacing. The aroms has lots of juicy orange and citrus. It definitely smells like a California IPA bursting with sweet, juicy hop aromas! The flavor also has a lot of oranges, citrus, and sweet grapefruit. The bitterness is mild to moderate at first and is quite smooth even and the intensity grows and grows with each sip. No alcohol can be tasted either! All of this great fresh citrus aroma and flavor is accompanied by a full body that is creamy and smooth on the palate. After having this beer, I’m really glad that Mad River beers have returned to my area (Southwest Ohio/Northern Kentucky). Steelhead Double IPA is a really tasty, well-crafted Imperial/Double IPA. It is very much like the <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Beer/green-flash-impe Flash Imperial IPA and almost as good!

12 oz bottles (Alcohol 8.6% By Volume) shared with me by Rob and Terry after the Vanilla Creme Ale brewout at my place...

Pours a cloudy amber color with an off-white head. Aroma is kind of weak with citrus hops, caramel, and just a hint of alcohol. Flavor is there but it doesn’t really come out much. Citrus hops and caramel up front that give way to sweet malts and a little bit of alcohol. Pretty dissapointed in this brew.

cooper color appearance, not much aroma to speak of. The flavor comes on really strong at first and then totally disappears. Fairly hoppy, but short lived

Sampled courtesy of DYCSoccer17. Iced tea color with quickly-disappearing head. Peachy orangey, apricot-y hops make a show in the aroma, but are surprisingly wan for an IIPA. More peaches and some mango figure at first in the flavor, then a dull, somewhat sweet mixture of malts of various extraction. Really rounded, sweet finish with low (for an IIPA) amounts of bitterness, quite thick and sharp carbonation. Not bad, but pretty pedestrian.

12oz bottle. Shouldn’t have drank this after eating hot sauce and hummus but damn it helped. Almost no head after the initial pour settles out, but the color is a nice peach and slightly opaque. Big sweaty armpit hops - caramelized grapefruit - and caramel malt in the nose. Sour grapefruit metallic flavor up front, it’s a bit astringent and tastes a bit like sucking on a penny. Chewy bitterness, slick but full palate. Lacks freshness, lacks vibrancy in the hops, and feels weighted down by the body, by the sugars.

12 oz bottle from bottletrek.com. Pours a murky orange, with little to no head. I would have liked a bigger aroma, but you can smell the fruitness, mainly grapefruit and orange. Flavor was similiar, but a lot more noticeable. In addition, floral and piney notes came through near the end. Medium mouthfeel with a big hop bitterness that lingers. I thought the alcohol presence was just perfect. The beer was a bit sweet, could have been a bit more balanced, but overall a decent IIPA.

Pours into the snifter a fairly hazy copper-orange color under a tight, but thin bone white head. Head gradually reduces to several islands of thin wispy foam. Some dispersed spotty lacing noted. Aroma profile definitely leans toward the hops but unfortunately a tad restrained. However, pleasant notes of orange, grapefruit and pine needles greet the nose. Some faint caramelly malt aromas can be detected in the background. Mouthfeel is smooth and velvety with a restrained CO2 level, but seems slightly thin mid-palate for a DIPA. Flavors were nicely balanced out between the hops and malt resulting in an upfront caramel candy and tropical fruit sweetness backed by a farily prominent citrus rind and hop resin bitterness. Finish is long, crisp and slightly dry. Just a slight alcohol warmness can be perceived. Not a top-shelf DIPA, but at $8.49/sixer its a good value and worth re-visiting.