Mendocino Winter Seasonal Imperial IPA

Brewed by Mendocino Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Hopland, California USA

Pours a nice copper color with a small white head. Very hoppy aroma with hints of pine and caramel malt. Bitter hoppy malty taste with a dryness on the back of the tongue. Malt is nicely balanced with the hops. Hop heads will like this and it is quite a bargain for a IIPA.

12oz bottle. Pine, wildflower honey, candi sugar, and a mild citrus all in the aroma. Copper colored. Initial taste is sweet (Columbus?), with some nice citrus and pine notes followed by a strong pine & mild forest floor flavor and rush of bitterness that is moderately intense, but short lived. Not really balanced since it is skewed towards the hops, but certainly not entirely devoid of malt and sweetness like so many other IIPA’s can be. The sweetness is only at the beginning, though. A nice beer, will probably pick up another six pack to keep in the fridge, but not quite a world class IIPA, IMO.

Bottle. Pour is a clear orange with a beige head. The aroma is very strong in pink grapefruit and pine. Just like the aroma, grapefruit and pine are quite dominant. A nice bitterness kicks in as the brew starts to pass the tongue. As the brew passes, pine becomes a lot more evident before the bitterness spikes and persists for a little while. As the citrus and the pine starts to fade, the malts become more evident. Now, that was what intrigued me, the malts. They’re somewhat sweet and roasty. It’s something I recognize in stouts, but very unusual in IPAs. It’s very interesting since this flavour is completely absent until the pine and grapefruit flavours dissipate. This is quite an interesting experience.

pine and grapefruit with an underlying musty aroma...more pine and a sharp hop bite at the start...a little watery with a ligering aftertaste...tried this at about 50 deg. F....may be a little better at 38....middle of the road IPA

Name: Winter Ale
Date: 12/15/2007
Mode: Bottle
Source: Green’s, Atlanta
Vintage: 2007

hazy orange, wispy beige head, bits of lace, sweet crystal malt aroma with a large grapefruit rind character, big sweet crystal malt flavor, lots of piney sweetness to go with the malt sweetness, citrus comes in and acts to balance the sweetness, touch of fruity orange, bitterness starts midway through and builds to a lasting bitter finish,

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 14/20
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Drinkability: 8/10
Score: **4

12 oz. single bottle from Total Wine in Jacksonville, FL. Was surprised to find this here, but a nice find nonetheless. Pours a nice orange color with a nice head. Aroma is nice and hoppy with a good IPA smell. Taste is sharp, a touch of sour and a nice hops finish. Really nice, needs a touch more somewhere to be an outstanding IPA.

Bottle. Pours an orangish copper body with a pretty big hops aroma. Grapefruit and pine are the main draws in the nose and also run a bit wild in the flavor... getting a bit out of control and taking the whole thing over. Don’t get me wrong, they are really nicely done, but I bet anything that with just a little aging this would be fantastic as the malt presence starts to assert itself just a little more. Still, a really nice drink in the dead of a blizzard.

Nice aroma with hints of alcohol malt and hops. Good golden amber color. Nice flavoe with medium to stong alcohol and strong hop notes that finish balanced on the pallet but not dry.