Rock Bottom Chicago American Dream IPA

Brewed by Rock Bottom Chicago
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Chicago, Illinois USA

Objectively speaking: An IPA that focuses on aromatic hops and light maltiness.
I like: Potent orange and flowery aromas are well-defined out of the glass. Gentle, soft spicy bitterness. Good-looking with its cloudy golden robe and lasting foam.
I dislike: A bit watery and possibly not even bitter enough (a formulation I rarely use) for all oh the malts’ insistence on occupying the background.

Draft… DLD’08…Cloudy, straw-colored ale with a mid-sized, creamy, white head. Great retention and solid lacing. The nose offers big notes of pine, medium notes of yellow grapefruit and an undercurrent of toffee. Medium-bodied with a whole-milk mouthfeel and lively carbonation. Nicely balanced juniper and grapefruit flavor. Crisp, bittersweet, citric finish.

This is a decent enough, if somewhat subdued, IPA. It pours a hazy orange color with an off-white head that does some considerable lacing as you drink. The aroma is soft hop scents (orange blossoms, pine, grapefruit) over a clearly present caramel malt. The flavor, alas, is dominated by the sweet malt, not what is to be desired by me in an IPA. The hops balance out more like this was an American Pale Ale.

Note: This was originally rated on 7/15/05, then moved to an imaginary corporate beer. Since learning from Rock Bottom’s corporate office that there is no such thing as a "corporate recipe," I’m putting this where it belongs, giving credit to the brewers.

<font size=-4><a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? Bottom Chicago, Chicago, IL<font size=-1>

On tap at R.B. Chicago. Poured a hazy medium peach with a tall, well-retained thick beige head. Must’ve been some Simcoe in there... juicy grapefruit and apricot in the nose along with lesser caramel and pine... quite sweet overall. Juicy fruits again in the flavor department (pear, grapefruit, and apricot)... backed by malty sweetness (not sure what exactly) and surrounded by aggressive pine bitterness. Smooth at the core with the aforementioned bitterness... left a fine bitter fruity impression. Well done, KARL!

In short: A mildly hoppy blonde IPA
How: Tap at brewpub
The look: Partly cloudy yellow body
In long: Nose is very aromatic with foresty and grapefruit aroma. Smooth malt profile with a mashed raw cereals flavour. Not much in the way of sweetness flavour except maybe a distant honey. Coniferous blends in with a lemon muffin sensation. Short bitterness of medium intensity. This is a decent beer but when I order an American IPA I want to get a hop-fix and that wasn’t the case with this beer. I don’t know what Shimkos taste like but it probably had more of it than Simcoes.

Cloudy, lemon-tea color, tapioca bone head. Nice fruity, grapefruity aroma, though stereotypically AIPA. Medium sweetness, pronounced grapefruit, sour, not edgy in the hops department, but there is a strong west coast hop underpinning. Long pine finish.

on tap at RB Chicago. this version was listed as dry hopped with over 50 lbs of Amarillo....pours slight hazed light golden with white head. aroma is dang hoppy, citrus, pine, peach, and apricot. flavors are rather bitter, citrus, pine, apricot. wow pretty high level of bitterness here. nice ipa and one of the better RB Chicago IPAs. 3.7.

7/24/08, so about 2 months after this Amarillo hopped version was tapped it clearly has shown signs of loosing its bitterness edge. still wonderful hop aroma and flavor but not very bitter anymore. still nice though. 3.5.

They call it an american ipa... not sure what that means but it does remind me of a fruity APA. Pours a dark golden color with a small white head and nice lacing. Aroma is sweet hop flowers definatelly floral with a light caramel and a touch of tropical fruit. Palate was well coated and a little sticky. Flavor was outstanding. Nice smooth even bitterness from a fruity hop, I’d say some watermellon and grapefruit mixed along w/ a lightly sweet caramel back. Very nice beer.