Sprecher India Pale Ale

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

Faint soapy aroma. First hint is a little caramel and then some malts. The hops come out at the end. Unfortunately, I get a lot of alcohol in the finish, which really sucks away from the dry hoppy graing flavor.

16oz bottle via trade with DavidP - Thanks David! - Pours cloudy amber with not much head to speak of. Aroma is mild but floral hops and a touch of caramel malts, and sweet tarts. Flavor is grapefruit, sweet tarts, caramel and oranges. Medium bodied without much carbonation. Smooth and not overly aggressive for an IPA.

Bottle shared with HogTownHarry & Dave B. -- courtesy of HogTownHarry. Pours a hazy copper with an average size diminishing off-white head. Nice mild aroma of equal parts hops and caramel malt. Delicious flavour of juicy U.K. hops balanced out with some caramel malt. As it warms the alcohol starts to come through. Medium to full bodied. I was not expecting this to be such a great IPA, must get some more!

Bottle (500ml). Shared with blankboy and Dave B, my bottle. Poured hazy orange with a decent diminishing beige head. Funky hop medley of mild US hops and pungent UK hops, solid grainy malt backing, some sweet citrus and resin notes - very nice. Strong fresh hop taste and almost barleywine malt/alcohol/yeast character, quite woody and long-lasting - lovely. Thick astringent mouthfeel, smooth alcoholic finish, bitter but fairly balance; seemed like an IPA/barleywine hybrid.

16 oz bottle. Poured a hazy medium amber with a two-finger rocky off-white head... spotty lacing ensued. Very enjoyable multi-faceted aroma with heavy sweet caramel and toffee maltage balancing the excellent pine and lemony hop presence. Same balance carried through to the flavors, but the alcohol at the back end was slightly too pervasive. Pine bitterness and smooth caramel found the finish. Very solid IPA!

14-Jan-06 (16 oz bottle: Obtained in trade with hopdog, thanks Steve!) Considering how much I just went nuts over this beer a year ago, I had to retry it to be sure. Either I make some adjustments, or I go nuts over it once again. How about doing both? Flat out, I still love this beer. Very flavorful, loads and loads of sweet, caramely malt, very fruity, but also quite hoppy and bitter, grassy, citrusy, kind of grapefruity, all flavors working in unison and in what I think is perfect balance. I mean, let’s face it, I enjoy a hoppy IPA, but I prefer my IPAs malty too, and this one is most certainly malty. Sweet and caramely nose is also quite fruity and a bit grassy from the hops. Medium-full bodied, trending toward full, solid carbonation, but the hoppy bitterness helps to break up the sweet, full mouthfeel. Dark ruddy amber in color and hazy to the point of not being able to see through the beer. The off-white head only attains a height of half an inch and settles to a thin, broken layer while leaving a few small patches of lace on the glass. Overall, in comparison to the last time I tasted this beer, it tastes hoppier and more balanced, and I think I was probably a bit too generous, but even though I will lower a few scores, I still think this is an outstanding beer and is still one of my favorite IPAs.

19-Nov-04 (16 oz bottle: Obtained in trade with atpayne, thanks Adam!) What the hell kind of nose is this? This is an IPA? The abundantly aromatic nose is very sweet and sugary like a piece of caramel candy, and very floral as well. However, there is no classic aroma of hops at all. It smells wonderful, but it’s vastly different from any other IPA I’ve ever had. And the flavor is also fantastic, but equally bizarre for an IPA. This tastes more like an English strong ale. It’s caramely, very malty, very sweet, and very fruity, with the fairly obvious sensation of a higher alcohol content. Yes, there are definitely some hops in here, and the moderately bitter hops manages to get noticed, but it stands in the shadow of the sweet and powerful maltiness. Only in the finish does the hops manage to stand on the same level as the malt. Even the palate is thick and full for the style, sweet, but not cloying due to the nice hop finish. The color of this beer is dark amber, slightly ruddy, bordering on light brown. The creamy, off-white head pours to about an inch, and gradually settles to and retains a quarter-inch layer of dense, solid head. Like Guinness, I can write on this head. Thick, dense lacing is left on the glass. I flat out love every facet of this beer, but it stands apart from just about anything else that calls itself an IPA. (9, 5, 9, 5, 18 = 4.6)

thanks to santa for this. pours an amber body with a grey crown. dusty lemon nose with melons. taste is grapefruity caramel, lime sherbert shake. lingeruing citrus taste. this is good. love the orange flavor that comes out as it warms, but there is some chocolate flavor that keeps this even.

Bottle courtesy of StewardofGondor. Pours dark golden/amber, with minimal white head. Lots of sweet caramel and yeastiness with little hop, maybe going bad. Flavor has all kindsof fruit, slightly sour. Waiting for a re-rate.