McNeills Summer IPA

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

A hazy orange beer with a disappearing white head. The aroma is quite hoppy as well as grassy, while the flavor is primarily sweet and dry, from the hops, but without that much hop flavors.

Cask, GBBF. Orange color, cloudy. I can hardly notice the aroma, but the taste is big. Too big, in fact. Loads of hops and blackcurrant. Harsh and oily. Some oak and licorice. Medium to full bodied, harsh and heavy for an ale.

22 oz bottle. Poured a dark and cloudy amber color with an averaged sized off white head. Aromas of citrus and pine. Tastes of light pine, light grapefruit with some sweet malts. Lightly bitter with a lightly sweet balance. I would have preferred a little more of a bitter bite. Thinner body.

on tap-pours an off white head that laces and hazy amber color. Aroma is some citrus hops-grapefruit, musty. Taste is citrus/resin/pine, secondary musty, medium malt-caramel.

Pours a clear copper with a thin white head. Aroma is rich and complex with a nice, sweet caramel and earthy hop nose. Body is thin and disappointing with a dry finish and very little sweetness or floral hop attributes. The body just didn’t live up to what I expected from the great aroma.

My Bottom Line:
Fruity yeast and a caramel malt backbone benefit from a coniferous and floral hop zing, building a quenching and accessible example of the style.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A ring of foam circles the cloudy dark amber.
-This IPA’s flavor profile seems to be a cousin of their ESB’s.
-Hops also offer lenient citrusy fruitiness throughout.
-Natural carbonation offers a relaxed mouthfeel.
-This is not one of those IPAs which is bursting with godly hoppiness; it is a balanced quencher.

On tap at the brewpub.

Tap at Barcade. Copper coloured pour with a creamy white head. Aroma is nicely hopped. Soft pine needles and a bit of light orange peel citrus. Fairly crisp body and surprisingly clean tasting for something from McNeills. I don’t know if they’ve got their new brewery up and running yet, but something about this is different (and for the better). Soft bitterness with a light herbal backnote. One of the better offerings from these guys.

Musty fresh hop aroma, plant-like... semi-mellow palate with a musty and gritty hop finish... reminds me of chewing on hop pellets while brewing... clear amber color with a small white head.