North By Northwest Kodiak IPA

Brewed by North By Northwest Restaurant and Brewery
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Austin, Texas USA

Slight gushing to stupendously huge, yellowish, composite and tenacously clinging head over hazy orange-brownish beer. Very fresh-hoppy nose, very powerful C-hops, and strangely, some dry washing powder aroma. Bitter, fresh hoppy flavours, real lupuline in liquid form. Maybe lacking in backing, certainly in the palated, so it is a bit thinnish, despite a creamy (carbonation?) texture. Good, refreshing, if a little thinnish IPA. Shines probably brighter on draught. Rare one to have, thanks to the Dewberries!

April 2007 - A cloudy rusty amber color with nice fluffy white head and good lacing. Aroma of pine and slight citrus. Flavor was rich caramel, almost an ESB toasty breadiness and some citrus and pine hops. Just the right amount of bitterness. Really nice thick but smooth mouthfeel. I wish I had more access to this brewery.

Bottle, which says 6%, so who knows what to believe. Pours burnt orange with a huge fluffy white head. Aroma is damn citrusy, tons of orange, pine, a bit of lemon, and plant store pungency. Hardly a hint of malt. Big tangy citrus orange flavor, a bit of tangy rye grain flavor, some slight brown sugar, but this is tangy and tart (in a citrus, not sour way). Finishes with toasty earth flavor and the citrus turns bitter, but remains equally flavorful. Aftertaste is kinda cloying for some reason, which is out of place (it’s not a sweet beer). Creamy texture, medium bodied, totally drinkable. Good stuff, but actually it’s a little TOO tangy for me.

Courtesy of padrefan98. 0pened at the fordest tasting sharing with fordest, toncatcher, wetherel and of course padrefan98. Pours gold with a slight haze and white head with mild lacing. Nice aroma with grapefruit hops, tangelo and tart dark fruit like black grapes. The taste starts with a brief dark grape note before tart and bitter grapefruit, grapefruit rind and orange rind come to the surface. As the finish approaches the citrus notes become mildly orange wedge citrus sweetness as the sweet malts make an appearance.

Big thanks to fly for this one. The pour is turbid deep copper with a splotchy off-white head and great sheets of sticky lace. The aroma is wonderful; huge piney sappy hops coupled with earthy caramel malt and tropical fruit...the aroma is like I’d imagine if one would throw a spruce tree in a blender with mango, tangerine, pineapple caramel malt, Wheaties, and peat moss. Just an amazing, intense, complex aroma that I smelled for quite a while. The flavor is wonderful also, with a very earthy caramel malt up front, giving way to the huge piney hops and tropical fruit, all balanced very well and complementing very well. My only complaint, and it is a minor one, is that perhaps a bit more malt would have pushed this one into perfecto robusto territory. As it stands, it’s one of my highlights for 2007. I see this one as a Stone 10th clone with better balance, slightly better flavor, and slightly better mingling of flavors. Outstanding!

Bottle shared at fordest’s tasting party. very nice flavors of grapefruit and bitter hopps. Very nice.

22 oz bottle shared with padrefan98. Lots of hops aromas. Sweet citrus and apricot. Flavor was more of the same. Some pine and grass too. Petty decent IPA.

Thanks to Ken for this one, and for the mental trip back to Austin, my distant home. Pours an orange hued gold. The aroma is plentiful with tropical fruits and piny hops. The flavor is a bit weak, citrusy, hoppy bitter but not overpoweringly strong. The body was a bit thin, but nice all around.