Russian River IPA

Brewed by Russian River Brewing
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Santa Rosa, California USA

Draft at O’Brians. A damn fine IPA I must say. Pretty standard appearance, nice one-finger fluffy white head and transparent light gold. I was very impressed with the aroma, a huge nose of fresh pine, grapefruit and other citrus notes. Well-balanced hop profile in the flavor, the bitterness is complemented quite well with a lighter, crisper finish on the palate. An excellent west coaster, but I definitely appreciate the Elder more.

Draft at the brewpub. Amber with a thin white head. cirtic hop aroma. Hops dominate, but malt is ample and provides some balance. Long, palate coating hop finish.

25April07 on tap @ Russian River. orange color, fizzy white head. great lacing. aroma of a west coast IPA, all the way. Yeah Dude! sharp bitter flavor. malt is in the finish, nice English malt but that bitterness lingers, PERFECT IPA! I enjoyed this milder version much more than ELDER.

Draught. Cloudy orange-gold body with a white soapy head. Fresh orange aroma, grapes, and sweet biscuit cookies. The flavour is superbly balanced - biscuit malts, sharp orange hops and essentially quite fruity. Finishes long with chewy hops. Very good!
Enjoyed a pint at O’Brien’s on March 23, 2007.

Draught pint at O’Briens on 3/23/2007
Shimmering bronze with just a hint of chill-haze and lighter blonde tints. White head is small, but mostly well-retained, leaving light lacing down the glass in patches.
Sweet pale malts are strongly woven in to the hoppy bouquet in the nose. It produces plenty of sweet fruitiness; sugary oranges/lemons, apples and cherries, with just a touch of pine dryness on the finish, recalling images of Pliny the Elder. The hops are definitely quite aromatic, but very easygoing, giving mostly fruitiness and soft juiciness without much bitterness/dryness or overly apparent snappiness. So it allows the malt to really work in the nose, providing cream and honey notes, a little bit of dry caramel and some light lemon-icing-like sweetness. As much as I like IPAs low on bitterness/acidity, I think a bit more here could provide more hop assertiveness, and resulting balance. Otherwise, I find it just slightly too sweet, despite the fact that the hops are clean, aromatic and very enjoyable.
Sugars build up, somewhat in the flavor, as well, but a decidedly stronger appearance of pine/resin-like dryness and a stronger nip of alpha acid on the finish help keep at bay the sweet maltiness. Very soft, malty texture has medium to medium-low amounts of carbonation. Oranges, peaches, nectarines and creamy-sweet malt through the middle, with plenty of lime and pine-like bitterness on the finish. Fairly simple overall, but without any flaws, of course, and very fresh and drinkable. Great session IPA (though I’d prefer a little less malt sweetness and maybe a touch more crisp/grainy notes from the malt).

Draft at the Brewpub. Probably should not have had a pint of Plney the Elder first because after that this tased a little mild. But nevertheless this was good. Poured a nice amber color with a small pub size head that when swirlled in the glass foamed up nicely and left decent lacing. Nose was of citrus hops and pine. Mouthfeel was nice and clean with some nice alcohol bite. Flavor were complex, and besides the citrus and mialts, there is that touch of pine again. Remarkably drinkable. Wonderful IPA.

Draft at the brewpub. Poured a hazy light orange color. Head was white with decent retention and lacing. Pleasant aroma of grapefruity and flowery hops; somewhat more complex than the Pliny the Elder in terms of its nose. Smooth, almost chewy mouth feel with moderate bitterness. It was less carbonated than the Blind Pig IPA. Flavor was dominated by grapefruity hop with malt taking a back seat (not as much malty caramel came out as in the Pliny the Elder IPA). Good beer.

On tap. Nice malty IPA with a light hop profile. Big hop nose with more citrus then woody pine. Similar to the Blind Pig but a little more bitterness on the finish.