Middle Ages Wailing Wench

Brewed by Middle Ages Brewing
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Syracuse, New York USA

Bottle via trade with Dan (jah noth). Deep red-copper body, thin/medium off-white to light cream head. The bottle says "screaming with hops" and the aroma says "screaming with butterscotch." There appears to be a diacetyl problem here, one that overwhelms any hops trying to make their presence known in the aroma. The flavor is quite butterscotchy, toasty, and sweet as well, but big bitter hops lurk in the background and especially in the finish. There’s a surprisingly hot alcohol bite at the end of the sip, too. Pine? It’s here. Citric fruit rinds? Here. Toast and hints of caramel? Here. Diacetyl? What the heck is that doing here? Disappointing in that regard. I’ve never had an I2PA plagued by that problem.

Pours a brilliantly clear, deep ruby-amber color with a frothy light tan colored head. At first in the aroma I get sharp notes of pine and then the diacetyl kicks in. The beer is quite light on the palate, at least from what I was expecting. There is a light sweetness to this beer, which off-plays the sharp pine-notes, grapefruit, and tangerine. The diacetyl definitely is quite present in the taste, it especially lingers a long time in the finish. This is like chewing on a butter soaked mix of pine and citrus. I can’t say that it is without merit though; the ample hop rate does help to mitigate the diacetyl dominance, except perhaps in the finish. This beer is quite a conundrum, at times I find it drinkable, yet at others I want to pour it down the sink. Thus the score neither captures the depths or the heights that this beer gets to.

The picture is the spitting image of a former barmaid at the Essen Haus in Madison some 20 years ago. A customer was never thirsty with Mary Kay or Nate at the helm. Ah the memories. Clear bright orange/brown color. Moderate, but dense light tan head. Small isles of lace. Woody and earthy malt and hops mingle in the aromas. More a hopsack aroma the more I think of it. Mild citrus and dark caramel. Lots of malt on the front of the tongue. Dark chocolate, light caramel, rye toast, all images thought of in the first few seconds. Plenty of hops show up mid gulp, with a lightly woody pine and acidic lime mix. Not real thick, yet with the flavors it seems chewy. Mild caramel and licorice linger. The hops seem a touch harsh at time, but then at others they seem to balance the malt heft quite well. This, to me, seem to be more traditional (something I prefer). I would have no problem having one of these on a regular basis.

Definitely not a West Coast DIPA. Dark in color looks like a fine British tea in the glass with moderate beige head. Flavor is sweet, very earthy, like an herbal tea, and very enjoyable. Finish is sweet with a lingering old twigs-tea like flavors staying out to the bitter end.

Bottle. Pours a clear dark amber brown. Aroma is sweet caramel. Taste is very creamy and malty for an IPA2. Finishes with a pretty good hop bite.

Nice copper color, creamy tan head. Dry, yet oily, leafy hop aroma. Sweet caramelly pez. Some fruit. Nice full hop taste. A little green and sweet.

Thanks Jason! This beer pours to a brown body with a thin white head and a nice lacing. The aroma has weedy hops and some strawberry fruit rollups. Dates and sweet, but not overly-so. The flavor is a nice strawberry hop, dandelions, sweet malts, slight stale cardboard. The palate is creamy and medium bodied. Good feel.

Clear brown body with a tan head; decent lacing. Chocolate wafer/cookie aroma with zippy grapefruit carrot/lime citrus. A unique flavor for a IIPA, it has a good balance of yeasty dark bread (chocolate wafer thing again) with unripe strawberries, pear, and resinous pine/grass. Red fruit finish. I enjoy this beer, it’s well put-together but overall it’s just not terribly interesting.