Santa Cruz Mountain IPA

Brewed by Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Santa Cruz, California USA

On tap at the brewery’s tasting room. I have a feeling that most people who rated this from the bottle got a way different experience. The hops in this one must fade really fast after bottleing because there was a huge grapefruit bitterness to this beer, maybe even too much. Kind of murky gold to amber color with a thin, lacey head. The aroma and flavor are almost single-handedly dominated by bitter grapefruit juice with a bitter and slightly tart finish. Not many malt flavors that aren’t adding a touch of sweetness to the grapefruit except for a hint of bread crust. Looks like they don’t do much to filter it and that is contributing to a pretty nice mouthfeel. Pretty simple, but bold and unique in what it is going for, and still preyy drinkable. Not really my stlyle, but not as bad on tap here as the bottled reviews would indicate.

22 OZ Bottle - My 1st organic beer Aroma: Oddly peanut and light (I mean very light) floral notes that is about it Appearance: Light golden (hazy) with a nice persistent whitish head Flavor: slightly vegetal, light malt and some hop bitterness.The other odd flavors are grainy and some hint of fuitiness. Palate: Rather thin, slightly astringent with a dull persistent bitterness which is not pleasant at all. Overall: Hopefully not my last, I am hoping "Organic" does not mean these kind of beers. For an IPA, this one hides the 7.5% well but none of its faults - I wish I could get $3.99 back - a poor example of an IPA (Hard to see any coast this would compare against other IPAs)

From a 22 oz bottle this poured a cloudy gold with a reddish center. A big fat head, but oddly not much lacing. Nose is of caramel malts and light floral hops. Mouthfeel is a bit acrid, and the flavor is a unpleasant bitter. OK. so how do you combine sourness and bitterness in the same finish. This one managed it, and it is kind of hard to go for the next sip. I usually love IPA’s but this one came up short for me.

Hazy orangish amber, moderate head with good lacing and retetnion. It’s all downhill after here. Floral earthlike aroma, light caramel. Medium to light body, fairly sweet. How does the lowest rated IPA to date come from California? Bland and light, too sweet, and somewhat different (not the usual C hops)... which I’m not lovin because of everything else.

Wouldn’t say it’s much of an IPA. Also, why do Organic Brewers insist of brewing less then great beer. Has a light hoppiness, with some floral accents. Wow.

Bomer from Bottle Barn; Nose of a little spicinessamnd floral hops, very weak; hazy orange with a medium yellow tinged head; flavor has a little orange, caramel, but only a tiny hint of hop bitterness; has the hop shortage hit already? Or is this not an IPA?

Bomber pours a hazy gold with copper core and weak white head. The aroma doesn’t remind me at all of an IPA. It smells like disjointed notes of stale grains, sugar and a vague sweet fruitiness. The vague fruitiness in the nose starts out the flavor followed by the stale yucky tasting grains and then mild bitterness. Toward the finish the weird graininess builds then gives way to a mild bitterness into the after taste. If organic is going to continue to taste this bad then I’d prefer non organic for sure.

Thanks to jah noth for this. Pours semi-hazy deep gold with a huge white head and tons of visible floaties. The head was gargantuan, and formed awesome unorthodox shapes, much like La Chouffe Hobbelein. The aroma was orange marmalady, bready, with apricot, caramel malt, and some spicy and floral notes. The taste is on the sweet side, with notes of caramel malt, honey, apricot, peach, and canteloupe dipped in ground black pepper, plus some spicy, floral, Belgian yeasty notes in the flavor. The hops take a backseat to the spicy, floral, fruity, and bready malt notes in this, and the style is extremely unique.