Middle Ages ImPaled Ale

Brewed by Middle Ages Brewing
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Syracuse, New York USA

This is my favorite beer. Ever. I’ve told a number of people: if there were only one thing I could ever drink, it would be this beer.

This beer is an India Pale Ale or IPA by style, and it is an excellent one. Impaled Ale seems to take the best of both British and American examples of the style, as it is brewed with British malts, a British yeast strain, and American hops. It isn’t a throat peeling, hop monster of an IPA, but one that has great hop aroma, flavor, and bitterness. It is one of the most drinkable and enjoyable IPA’s you will find on the US market, a pint after pinter. As stated in earlier reviews of Middle Ages, they use a British strain called ringwood that gives their beers distinct earthy and buttery aromas and flavors. You will find that signature yeast character in Impaled Ale, and it makes a great beer even better in my opinion. Middle Ages Impaled Ale pours to a beautiful, light amber color with a thick and creamy white head, and a good bit of carbonation. The nose on this beer is excellent with fragrant aromas of piney/citrus hops paired with yeasty/earthy aromas, and light aromas of biscuit malt. The palate is firm with lots of good pale and biscuit malt flavor paired with light buttery flavor and estery fruit. Impaled Ale finishes with more malty, buttery, and estery flavors up front, then ends with a very pleasing, spicy, piney hop bitterness that lingers. I really enjoy this beer, and it is one of my all time favorite IPA’s. This is a very quaffable IPA, one that has plenty of hops, but is not so over loaded with hops that you could not have a session with this one. Impaled Ale is a very food friendly beer and would match well with classic pub grub. I was able to enjoy this one fresh on draught at the Blue Tusk, a legendary Syracuse beer bar, and you will find free samples of this one pouring at the brewery. Retailing for about $6-$7 a six pack in bottles, or $3-$4 a pint glass, Impaled Ale is well worth seeking out.

This is an impressive IPA. Very hoppy with a subtle, malt character. Not the spicy zing, but excellent flavor with a nice finish. Highly recommended.

I had this on cask at the Old Toad (methinks that’s what it is called)in Rochester, NY over Christmas. This was my first "Real Ale", so it was, for me, a religious experience. When poured it has that lovely lightly carbonated frothy head that real ales have. It stuck around for a good long while, which I enjoy. Looks to be of a dirty golden color. More mirky than pale (due to the sediments...mmmmm... Lovely bouquet. Smelled of pine more than anything else. Taste was well balanced. Certainly one of the maltiest IPA’s I’ve ever had. Slightly sweet as I remember and pinyier as it flattened and rolled out on my tongue. Mouthfeel is excellent, very rich. Many people have commented on how this beer could have used some clarity or seperation in the balance of its flavors. I don’t feel this way at all. This beer I think shuold be enjoyed for how it isn’t clear but presents your palate with something new and undistinguished. Like if you lived somewhere were there weren’t people of another race, and then you moved somewhere full of latinos and african americans. You wouldn’t know what to do but you would learn to enjoy the obscurity and confusion. Right....hmmm. go drink one its good. G-rat

Pours a very slightly hazed amber with a light tan gead that really sticks around. I cannot remember the last time I saw this much retension of head, so I am going to give this one a 5 on appearance. Nose is very hoppy with those pine and citrus tones. The flavor is subdued and doesn’t present itself as a hop bomb or that style. It is more of a gentle hopped ale. Feel is thick with bubbles and slightly meaty on the liquid. Definitely drinkable. It is a smooth and even IPA that doesn’t have any overly showy attributres. I would be interested to see what this one is like on tap...or better yet on cask.

ILL TELL YOU WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS IPA.... NOTHING. THIS IS A COMPLEX AND TRUE IPA IN IT’S QUALITY MALT CHARACTER AND FLAVOR DOWN TO THE ESSENCE OF PURE HOP GOODNESS. IT IS COMPLEX WITH ALL THE USUAL HOP AND MALT PROFILES OF THE TRULY GREAT BEERS. I AM A HOPHEAD, AND THIS IS AN EXCEPTIONAL BEER FAR BETTER THAN ANY ORDINARY MASS PRODUCED MICRO. THESE PEOPLE MAKE GREAT BEER AND THIS NORTHEASTERNER IS TRULY PROUD. IT IS QUALITY AND INDICATIVE OF IT’S OWN PERSONALITY REMINICENT OF OREGON SOME 20+ YEARS AGO. SO WELL LAYERED, JUST MARVELOUS!

Dull copper. Well-packed ring of bubbles hugs the glass. Balanced aromas of buttery wood, dessert apples, jellied bananas, and pine straw. Tight, but brisk, carbonation. Opens with hard minerals touched with grated lemon peels, peach fuzz bitterness, and a lush nutty-Crystal cushion. Minuscule juicy hop presence, but the yeast yields ample fruitiness. Minty alcohol reinforces the snappy Ringwood-induced dryness. Oodles of oily hops pummel the palate and lend softness, but the insistent graininess remains. Staunch Ringwood and walnut skins continually exaggerate the husky center. Dry, brashly hoppy, and salt accented finish, but with a strong-willed counterpoint of subtle diacetyl, toasted husks and nuts. Yet another beauty to behold from the Ringwood gurus. A dead-on replication of the 19th century classics.

pathetic graphics demean this very fine beer, the label’s frankly about as attractive as barf on a barstool. well, maybe it’s not THAT bad. but the beer is luscious and elegant: a teaky/bamboo colored pour with a loyal head. there’s both carmel and cascades in the aroma, and while they’re as harmonious as bluesy saxophone on a rainy night, still it’s true it’s probably not hopped up enough to make that long voyage to india. if i were the ship captain, i’d realize this about when we got to morrocco and would elect to park the boat on a palmy beach and drink it all before it spoiled in the tropical air. i’d say it’s a beautiful morrocco pale ale.