Sprecher India Pale Ale

Brewed by Sprecher Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Glendale, Wisconsin USA

Bottle labeled as the IPA2 but found out it is just the regular IPA, no problem since I have not had it either: Clean amber hue with a fading frothy head but did leave good lace upon the pint glass. The aroma has notes of grassy and herbal hops with a dash of pepper esters, caramel and bready malts and a hint of phenolic activity. The taste is rather subdued with an okay bitter presence but the malt seemed to dominate the flavor profile too much. A light spice character upon the finish. The mouth feel is only slightly aggressive and there is a stand-offish metallic finish. Okay if you think of this more akin to a British styled IPA using American hops.

Pours a deep red-orange with brassy highlights and a very good head with good lacing. This was a little "off" for me, right from the aroma, which had a sawdust-like quality. The first taste is of some fair hoppiness, with that sawdust in the background again. Not much dimension to the hoppiness -- a little bit of pine, maybe the barest hint of orange, but it wasn’t excessively bitter because it could just plain use more hops. This is one of those beers that don’t seem that far off -- a little tinkering with the recipe could produce significantly better results. But at this point I’d have to call it another of Sprecher’s misses in their recent flurry of new styles.

Aroma of sweet syrupy malt/honey with some residual herbal hops. Color is almost red and clear with no noticeable head. Mouthfeel is VERY sweet, syrupy, and malty, hops are getting dominated by the malt. Not my style.

The aroma, the first sniff just did not sit right. Too much malt in this premium IPA. Perhaps I am just used to the west coast style IPA. This beer just left a nasty finish. Not enough hops in this IPA!

Cloudy, darker amber with modest foamy head / Sweet, caramel nose / Rather sweet, full-bodied, with winey, caramel and coffee flavors. Hops present in finish but overwhelmed by flavors / Not really an ipa but more of an American strong ale? A decent beer on that basis but not much as an ipa. (Graded as an ipa.)

I remember trying this when it was labeled as their " IPA" and it was very different. Or so it seemed as I cant find my notes on the original. I dont remember the somewhat thick mouthfeel that this has although that is not all that pleasant as the metallic aftertaste lingers. I just complained about New Holland relabeling one of their old beers and this one would be an even better example. As the commercial would go; relabel beer- $1.50/6er more, never buying again- priceless. At this point except for their Black why would you bother with anything from them.

Bottle from sampler picked up at Beverage Castle in Tampa. Poured a gorgeous clear deep copper/orange with nice of white head. The aroma is a thicket of malty sweet sticky caramelized malts, pine hopes and sweet tangelo juice citrus hops. Yum. The flavor has grapefruit hop bitterness and even more aggressive pine hop bitterness. Competing noticeably against the dangerous hops duo is rich caramelized malts with notes of dark toasted seven grain bread that’s way more toasty than bready. As the finish approaches the hops subside just a bit and the malts are joined by subtle pale grainy maltiness. Then the pine hops return and usher the taste experience into the after taste supported by ample amounts of grapefruit sweet nectar. There’s also an under current of faint alcohol throughout.

Bottle labeled as IPA2. Pours murky caramel brown. Odd sweet malt aroma with minimal hop influence. Smells quite sweet like freshly melted caramel. The hops finally arrive on the palate, but are quite subdued. The malt flavor dominates over the hops... interesting. Not enough hops in my mind to be classified as an IIPA. Original rating: 5/3/4/3/14 - 2.9 Re-rate: 8/27/2007 Still don’t see it really as an IIPA. Much more along the lines of an ASA. I do think that I gave it an unfair rating the first time around. The hops are present but the malt still dominates. I guess I see what they’re trying to achieve by bring more malt to the IIPA table, but isn’t that just an American Strong Ale?