Smuttynose Big A IPA

Brewed by Smuttynose Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Portsmouth, New Hampshire USA

My god is this good. This is what an IIPA should taste like. I’ve found that the secret to a good hoppy beer is lots of malt, but with very light malts. This provides strong body and balance, but without becoming overly assertive. It gives the hops a table to stand on. Big A accomplishs this flawlessly. Huge resiny hops. Sticky, sweet and fruity. Grapefruit and pine. Entirely hidden alcohol. Strong bitterness, but in that smooth, rounded off warrior fashion. I’m damn impressed.

Pours a pale orange hue with a decent off white head that quickly dissipates. The aroma is in your face grapefruit, citrus, honey and malt. Awesome aroma. The flavor is rich and syrupy with lots of caramel malt that is backed up nicely with juicy resinous hops. A very balanced and nice beer. This one went down quick. Alcohol is very nicely hidden. A solid beer.

Bottle sampled with Stegosaurus. Pours copper with a white head. Aroma of hops and citrus. The flavor is citrus, pine and floral hops. Good Ipa.

beautifuly sweet with a decent amout of bitterness very nice malt a fine imperial ipa

Poured a dark golden color okay head good lacing. Aroma was orange and citrus hops. Flavor was much the same with some nice malts mixed in there to balance it out. Had a bitter aftertaste which stayed on my tounge for awhile.

22 oz. bottle ’05 via trade with TBC2 - Pours a golden color with a faint head. Aroma is very nice. It’s fruit, resin, floral and sweet malt. The flavor is somewhat subdued. Has some sweet citrus hop flavor and esters. Time has really toned down the bitterness. This is probably the most smooth tasting 2IPA I’ve had. Medium body. A very nice beer. Thanks Matt.

Bottle. Hot damn, I needs a beer!! I hate working for The Man, but I love beer. The pour on this is light orange with a whispy white head. It’s hard to judge these IIPA’s by their appearance. The aroma is where I really get pumped up. And this delivers. It’s very citrusy and rich of pine and grapefruit. There’s a delicate caramel and lemonesque scent that provides mouth-watering sweetness. This is like a boquet of flowers. It’s a bit fizzy in the mouth, not quite a problem though. There are plenty of hops all right. It’s deep and complex with a sturdy note of bark resonanting. It’s quite sticky, but not to the level of Seeing Double, just enough to really give it a backbone. There’s a bit of green tea and honey amid the stabbing spiciness of the hop onslaught. This is very well balanced and bold enough to command my respect. It’s the white-knuckle thrill ride of this summer!

Poured an orangy yellow from the bottle with a sudsy white head. Aroma is hoppy, fruity, and almost smells like soap. Initial flavor is fruity, citrus like orange and unusually fizzy. Hoppy flavored finish which is slightly acidic and a little soapy. A little too bitter and acidic to be great, but still pretty good.