Mendocino Winter Ale (05/06 - IIPA)

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

(on tap @ the bistro)orange body with a white head.a bit of light pine in the aroma and flavor.not bad for a year old double ipa.

This is a very malty IIPA, but if that’s what you’re looking for it’s really nice. Lots of pine flavor but other than that it’s plenty of almond malt.

got a lot going for it with certain drinkers. nice grapefruit hops with a pretty good malt flavor of toasty caramel. alcohol noted -seems to be the brewers style- this beer gives you the goods. big flavor and big body. floral and pine resin seeps in just before that nice heavy wintry finish.

Name: Winter Ale
Date: 01/14/2006
Mode: Bottle
Source: Sherlocks, GA
Vintage: 2005

clear dark amber, thin off white head, dripping lace, sweet grapefruit aroma, big body, lots of citrus hop flavor on a balancing sweet carmel malt base, long tongue scraping bitter finish, fatigues after a while, drinks more like an IPA as the imperial quality and 9% is well hidden

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 8/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 7/10; Overall: 14/20
Rating: 3.6/5.0
Drinkability: 6/10
Score: **4

So I never came across this year’s batch in NYC and none of the locals as far as I know did either. All of a sudden I stop by this out of the way beer distributor that never carries anything special compared to my regular stops and I see this bottle. At first I dismissed it as the 04/05 Porter, thought for 5 seconds of buying it but I still had one in the cellar and moved on. Then later that evening realized that I was looking at the DIPA earlier. Less than a week goes by and I returned to the store and picked up their only bottle. Weird is all can say.
Popped the cap and despite this being a year and a half long, I could smell the hops a foot away from the bottle neck. Poured into a small goblet glass with a tea like amber color and a small head. Aroma is sweet, oily, resiny hop with a strong early grey tea like aspect. Just a hint of sweet caramel maltiness (a bit aged) but tea-hops is the best way for me to describe this. Taste is oily, sweet grapefruit and on the back end there is even a slight aged sweet maltiness. Aftertaste of tea. Feels just a bit syrupy on the cheeks, moderately carbonated, making for a nice present and smooth yet medium bodied feel on the palate. Light bitterness in the finish.

Thanks to TBC2 for sliding this one my way. Moderate sized head of pale orange bubbles. Fantastic carbonation. I actually can’t believe what I am seeing in the glass. Loads fo carbonation that keep a nice ring of foam around the outside. Spicy hops aroma with plenty of sweet malts and caramel. Just the way a good IIPA should be. Color is a dark copper brown. Roasty and malty flavor. Still some hops bitterness and presence but I am sure that it has dissipated over the past year. Sweet and malty. Little bit of harsh roasty bitterness in there last swallow. Not too much though. Slick mouthfeel with a nice alcohol presence. Finishes sweet and bitter with a lingering alcohol warming. A very good IIPA. Not balanced all that great, but still pretty damn good.

Rated 10/23/06: Solid brew, not a great example of an Imperial IPA. Sampled from a pint glass, didn’t get a very strong aroma. Deep copper color with generous lacing and a solid head especially for the high abv. Full mouthfeel, nice finish. Flavor is very hoppy and bitter. Not a huge fan of this brewer, their underlying hop profile generally doesn’t agree with me but this is one of their better brews.

Has a very nice balance of piney hops and sweet malt.Pours a medium copper with a medium white head.Lots of piney hops with a nice balance of malt as well in the flavor.Full mouthfeel with a big hop finish.