Metolius Dolly Varden India Pale Ale

Brewed by Portland Brewing Company (Pyramid)
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Portland, Oregon USA

One of the worst IPAs that has ever crossed my lips. Thin, watery and full of metallic flavors and cardboard tastes. I guess this could be a gateway beer for someone, but I hope they move onto something better fast.

Dark golden color with a smallish off-white head. Scents of pale malt, grapefruit peel and sweet light caramel. Some early malt and bread qualities. An addition of dark honey, mild citrus and light pine wood. A mid to low road IPA, at least by modern standards.

22 oz. Got it from albersons for 2.33. Pours a clear orange /amber with a medium white head. Aroma is very earthy , mild citrus, carmel malts, don’t get any bursting citrus or floral notes. tTste is watery, malty, has a slight bitter bite Not bad for the price, but still below average.

Bottle from a discount grocery in Sacramento, CA. Pours orange amber with a decent white head. Aroma is sort of honey over hop and light caramel. Less than medium body with ok carbonation. Flavor is a bit watery, and caramel, with not quite enough floral hop. Some papery notes. Finishes astringent. Good considering the price.

12 oz bottle from Albertsons Grocery store. Pours a pours a washed out yellow-copper color with a fizzy white head. The aroma is faint with stale cardboard and some caramel malts. The flavor has a smatteing of mildly biter hops set in a watery sweet malt backdrop. The finish is astringent and biter-sweet. The mouthfeel is relatively thin with fizzy carbonation. Overall: Drinkable, but not good stuff.

What is this? N’ver heard... Well, it has an earthy, sweet, and floral aroma; airy and somewhat rocky light tan head with fair lacing and cloudy, average copper body; earthy, citrusy malt-forward (?) ale; definitely drinkable, but chunky at times; not bad - rustic almost, if that’s the word... Somehow good.

Bottle from my brother. I think he got it at Albertsons. Never heard of it before. Poured a nice looking clear amber color. Aroma of caramel, bread and citrus. Aroma wasn’t very strong. A pretty nice palate actually; quite soft and smooth. Not much of an IPA more like a fairly hoppy APA. A bit earthy, floral and citrus in the finish. Not overly bitter. A pretty solid balance there too. Wow; surprisingly decent beer.

Pours golden brown with a decent lacing and lingering off white head. Aroma is a bit strange for an IPA. Not quite pine hops and not quite caramel maltiness. Kind of a bland presence, not unpleasant but way too subdued and old hops. Flavor starts with a boring caramel malt simplicity and moves towads a hop presence that comes across as slightly citric and floral. Just plain so so at best as it doesn’t balance right, not enough fresh hop taste and too sweet.