Michigan Brewing High Seas India Pale Ale

Brewed by Michigan Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Webberville, Michigan USA

STYLES… kind of like the STELLA yell from Rocky.… Thanks for the brew, Mate!

Pours with a dark bronze chestnut body and a tall and bountiful off white head. The aroma is packed with toffee and caramel malts beside a mega blast if woodsy, piney citric hops. The flavor sits on a maple syrup sweet and smokiness and an almost off putting over hoped metallic astringency in the finish. The hops are an odd combination of sorts’… citric upfront spicy cedar wood chipped in the middle and piney rainy in the finish… I don’t know what it is that’s throwing it off for me?? The palate is huge… very chewy and sticky… I see a great beer here but it’s off on my particular palate.

Draft at Silver Slipper in Onakama, MI. Dark amber with moderate white head that diminished slowly and had fair lacing. Good balanced hop and spice aroma. Medium body with dry texture. Moderate hop and spice flavor with medium bitter finish.

Deep amber body with creamy off-white, mostly lasting head. Aroma is light for IPA, some floral and spice. Flavor is initially sweet malt before piney bitterness of the hops kicks in. Medium body, creamy texture.

Pours a brownish-red with a froathy off white head. Aroma is toasty and hints of caramelization with a note of spicy goodness. Yow, a bold smack you in the face and pour a mix drink in your lap of an IPA. Slight bitterness with a carmelly sweet taste. Very solid IPA. Nice and spicy too. My favorite IPA so far.

(12 oz bottle: Obtained in trade with Pailhead, thanks Kevin!) Pouring this really murky and dark ruddy-amber colored beer into my pint glass, this is already shaping up to be a winner. A nose of darker fruits, brown sugar, toasty malts, mild hop aromas, and light alcohol add to my growing impatience to sip this beer, and I simply can’t wait a minute longer. Oh baby, this is tasty stuff. Wow, is this really an IPA? Malty, lightly sweet and caramely, somewhat roasty and smoky, hoppy and bitter, with modest grapefruit notes in the finish. Alcohol is fairly evident to me, and together with the sweet and flavorful maltiness and solid hops bitterness, this seems more like a strong ale than an IPA. Full bodied, and the thick, heavy, and fully coating mouthfeel fills every crevice with long-lasting flavor. The tan head pours to a good height, but fades to a ring within a few minutes. But a quick swirl easily stirs up a fresh head. For what’s supposed to be just a "standard" IPA, this is insanely good. My glass is now empty, and that makes me weep.

Grapefruit scented hops perfume the toasty malt base. Hazy tan-gold with low white head that recedes to cover. Floral, grapefruit hop flavour with toasty malt character. Medium body is quite dry and well attenuated. Enjoyed on tap outside the brewpub after the Michigan Brewers Guild Summer Beer Fest 2005.

It is an IPA, as the strong hop aroma reminds you as the brown orange liquid flows into the glass. Head doesn’t last long, but a bit of lace. I don’t care for IPAs and this seems typical of the genre.

Sampled draught at the Michigan Brewers Fest. Dark apricot with a bit of lasting head and lace...nicely balanced fruity-hoppy nose, touches of caramel malt up against Cascade spicy grapefruit...light, fruity, refreshing and highly drinkable body, malt subdued, hops thick but clean and never harsh, overall a light-bodied, summery and delicious IPA that betrays nary a hint of its fairly high ABV.