Mendocino Winter Ale (05/06 - IIPA)

Formerly brewed at Olde Saratoga Brewing (Mendocino Brewing Co.)
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Saratoga Springs, New York USA

(12oz bottle) Crystal clear amber body with small white head. Aroma is medium sweet, strong grapefruit, some caramel/toffee. Taste is medium sweet, strong grapefruit, some caramel, light herbal. Medium body, light resin, alcohol well hidden.

This baby poured a hopped up orange with small head. Nose was grapefruit. taste was malt with hop finish. Well done. Not as great as the port 04-05, but pretty nice. Rerate on 1-2-07 .Well, this mellowed quite a bit , the hops are more subdue and there is a slight metallic taste and bite of the tongue, maybe this was not one to "cellar"? Glad I grabbed this now

bottle pours light orange with a thin white head no lacing. aroma is citrusy hoppy and malty. taste is smooth malty a full of hops. pretty good beer.

On tap at Saratoga brewery; On e major thing wrong with this beer; it’s 9% and as well-hidden as any high alcohol beer I’ve ever tasted. Other than that "problem", it’s extremely well-made and compares equally with similar-style extremely hoppy IPA’s, such as Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale. According to Dan at the tasting room, it cost more to brew than their 11% Talon Barley Wine. Therefore, it’s a bargain at the brewery for $5 / growler.

Draft @ HDG. Rich orange color with a lasting white head. This stuff is a citrus hop monster. Tastes dry, sweet and bitter with a lasting long malt base. As good of an east coast rendition of the style thats out there.

Bottle, from Ryan & Casey’s. Good nose, sweet. Piney, citrusy. Some caramel and/or toffee. Thought I was getting a little yeast funk in there. Clean brownish orange color. Small head that faded quickly, minor lacing. Bittersweet flavor. Like aroma with a burnt edge. Some nuttiness. Medium body, creamy smooth mouthfeel, bitter dry citrusy finish. Nice west coast ipa from Mendocino. A classic.

Amber body with a white head that quickly disappears. Very hoppy aroma - spice, pine and grapefruit. Small underlying sweet malt nose with just a hint of alcohol. Flavor follows the aroma, dominated by the hops with just enogh malt for some balance. Nice long bitter finish. Very nice beer, and at $5.99/ 6 pack a great buy.

Bottle consumed on 12/30/05. Frothy white head seems well-retained to begin. Strong hop aroma is spicy, fruity and bitter (lots of grapefruit). Light malt is sugary and slightly doughy, but there is no huge yeast stink or any syrupy caramel malt. Clear and fresh are the hops. Body is copper-amber and bottle conditioned. Flavor is citrusy-piney hops, but significantly more flavor than bitterness. Caramel and pale malt sugars in the background provide balance, body. Light biscuity, almost grainy vienna-like malts in there as well. No alcohol apparency. The hops seem fresh enough, but the malt is a little lacking. Just seems sugary and rather dull. But the amarillo fruitiness almost seems to make up for it. Not to mention the very low acidity, which allows the palate some relief. Light notes of orange zest and candied oranges, as the caramel and cascades combine, edging the pininess somewhat. Gets somewhat watery, and probably my biggest complaint, and kind of the crux of what I feel is wrong here, it finishes very quickly. Sure, some hop bitterness lingers on, but it just turns to watery otherwise. Still, you can’t deny it’s well-brewed. No alcohol apparency is pretty impressive, right down to the last mouthfull of (by now) warm liquid. Lightly creamy texture at times, fairly tight carbonation is also quite low. Light lacing left behind.