McNeills Dead Horse India Pale Ale

Brewed by McNeills Brewery
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Brattleboro, Vermont USA

The quintessential IPA, Rae McNeill hits us across the face with a 2x4 of hop flavor!

One of my favorite beers, by one of my favorite brewers. A great, hoppy IPA, migh lack a little in the finish though. Great on the hand pump.

Thoroughly enjoyable ale and not the standard IPA that a lot of breweries churn out. Interesting English malt flavor with a bit of sour apple. Not overpowering hops - but crisp and clean. Occasional alcohol flavor. Very nice effort.

Pours a hazy orangey brown, small tan head that leaves decent lacing on the way down. Aroma is lightly malt sweet, with some floral, pine and citrus hints from the hops. Flavor is initially sweet from the malts, then gets some good earthy, pineapple and grapefruit from the hops. Body is quite full, seems very close to a cask conditioned beer going down.

Cask at McNeills: Nice fresh hop snap. Great balance between malts and hops. Very juicy. good hop finish. Nothing too much, just right. Much better than bottle.

22 oz bomber. Orange with a slight off-whute head and floaties. Very floral, citrussy aroma. Full bodied malty flavor with a nice heavy bitterness and hop flavor following. The hops leave a dry palate. Decent brew, but perhaps been done before. 7-4-7-5-14

Whats with the carbonation of this beer. A massive skyscraper tall, lightly yellowish crown sits like a fine shaving cream foam that takes literally forever and a day to settle, I mean come on! I would like to drink this without foam going up my nose. The color itself is of coppery amber and syrupy thick looking with major carbonation bubbles going strong within. Aroma has a terrific dry cedar pine nose upfront, great hop complexity to it throughout with dry floralness and some finer alpha acid resin that sits like the tiny yellow pollen dust within the hop cones has been dusted across the top. Some wiffs seem stronger then others. Nothin' but hoppy dry, woody, and resin filled goodness here! Well balanced taste with dry and toasty bready malts really making a good presense. Kinda earthy and roasty too. Crisp, clean, smooth and even; the hops aren't as dominant as you'd think given what the smell eludes too. Its not a hop monster by any means, its actually a bit tame on the hop scale and the bitterness. There's some slight dry pineyness thats cedar-like with some nudges of resin pop towards the finish but doesn't linger long nor strong and without alot of bite, which is actually kinda nice. Much more drinkable in that regards! Its got that earthy, roasted edge thats real nice to behold; and with some milder hop tones that don't over do it. Nice effects across the palate. Some bubble gum notes show very late underneath. Feel is medium bodied, slighly fluffy with a favorable carbonation at first but I detect flatness in a couple areas which I find odd cuz every time I try to pour more from the bomber into my glass the head just keeps growing fast and wild. A very nice IPA indeed, the nose is great, and the milder hop tones and overall body makes this quite easy to drink. If it weren't for that damn foamy head getting in the way nearly every sip I would have enjoyed it more thoroughly; still, noteably good either way ya drink it.

This one pours turbid coppery with 2-finger off-white head. Aroma of heavy hops, fruit, caramel malt, some spicy and floral notes. The falvor is amazingly complex, with hops, fruit, florals, caramel malt, and some funky notes. Complex, wel balanced palate.