Santa Cruz Mountain IPA

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

Bottle, BevMo La Mesa. Pours a slightly hazy, orange color with some red visible as well. Somewhat odd aroma of sweet spicy malt with a little bit of cleaning agent. Very grassy bit flavor up front with very little balance. The bitterness is just slightly tinny. Sort of an off metallic aftertaste.

22oz. bottle. Pale yellow coloration with a small white head. Mild grassy hop aromatics with some earthiness. Soapy, earthy malt character underneath a thin vegetal hop flavor. Finish has residual vegetal astringency. Mouthfeel is a light medium.

Just when I thought it was safe to drink "organic" beers again. Looks and smells like a decent IPA. Good hops in the nose, with some wooden aromas to make it interesting. The taste is completely unbalanced. A good amount of hops circulates in and out, but there is always a funky, earthy taste that will not go away. Its like I’m drinking this beer out of a wooden cup that has sat in the mud for several days. Damn hippies.

Golden yellow, the lively and bubbly carbonation helped maintain a sturdy head on it.
Yeah it’s hoppy, but a strange kind of hop, one that seems starchy, like when you boil potatoes and leave the lid on, and it boils over and burns on your stove. I’ve detected this before in some other Beer, who knows what causes this but I doubt it’s intentionnal.
Mid carbonation on the tongue, it’s got a decent if non-descript hop bite, but there’s nothing on the malt side to give it any character or complexity. Not that IPAs need to be real mind-benders, so this one only gets barely a passing grade, but for a west coast IPA it’s well below average.

22 oz bottle. Hazy orange body with medium white head. Strong, hoppy aroma. The texture of this beer is surprisingly mild, almost watery. This is in contrast to the aggressively hoppy flavor. Flavor is also citrus but the general impression of this beer is inharmonious. Long and almost unpleasant aftertaste.

Hazy golden amber,small beige head.Light floral & malt nose. Floral malt fore and mid, Medium lasting hop end. Underflavored

22 oz. bottle, purchased at BevMo LaJolla. Pours light amber color with a light haze along with a large, fluffy off-white head with nice lacing. Aroma is of sweet summer fruits, a bit of caramel, floral and vegetal notes, sort of a blanched cabbage scent and a bit of orange. Flavor includes orange juice, toasty malts, caramel, citrus and a bit of grapefruit with dominant floral-herbal tones and a spicy finish. Medium body and gentle carbonation.

Fusel aroma with very little hops. Deep golden in color with some effervesence and little head. Ethanol-like flavor, some alcohol, more medicinal than hoppy. I love their brown and stout, but this is disappointing.