Stoudts Double IPA

Brewed by Stoudts Brewing Co.
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Adamstown, Pennsylvania USA

Very good. Definitely a strong beer, a little too strong for the recipe. So much malt that it was a little on the sweet side for an IPA. Full bodied and heavy with some alcohol flavor. Hop flavors were overpowered in this. Very drinkable and enjoyable though. Raisin sweetness was strange for an IPA.

12oz bottle at the Brickskeller. Hazy orange with a small, sticky head. Fruity, hoppy aroma, leaning on honey, citrus and light pine. The flavor has a big malt body with moderate to higher sweetness, and a bitter grapefruit, and peach hoppiness. The bitterness is just enough to cut some of the sweetness, but falls pretty short of being a hop-bomb. I was moderately into the balance, but I’m getting sick of these malt bomb IIPAs. A fine beer, but not exactly satisfying to a hop-head.

Pours a hazy orange color with a really creamy white head. Lots of lacing as this beer just flowed from the glass. Aroma was lots of fresh hops and a nice raspberry sweetness. Flavor was significantly less hoppy and much more malty. Not my preference for a DIPA, but still very good. I was pleasantly surprised by this fine brew.

12oz. Pours hazy orange. Small-ish off-white head. Flavor is reminiscent of a barley wine. Especially upon warming, the flavor is dominated by raisins and dark fruit. Hides it’s alcohol content really well. After reading all these ratings commenting on old bottles, I’m wondering if mine wasn’t old too?

I had to check the date to make sure I wasn’t drinking it too far after the hop profile died but sure enough it was fresh. A tad too weak for my DIPA tastes.

[Bottle, <2 months old] Pours deep amber with a small off-white head. Aroma is really strange, and when cold reminds me of rubber cement and green apples. It becomes more herbal and tolerable when it warms, but it is still pretty unappealing. Taste is sweeter than I thought with some strange apple notes, a little alcohol, malt in the finish, and very little hop bitterness. A little muddle and nothing crisp about it. This also becomes better as it warms, and at above normal drinking temps (at least for what I drink my IIPAs at) it becomes ok, with a lot of raisin. Fairly smooth and a little thin with a below average length finish. Could this really have dropped off this badly in less than 2 months? I will have to try a really fresh bottle, because this was really strange and terribly underwhelming.

Bottle. Pours orange with a sticky cream-colored head. Aroma is intensely floral, soapy and very fresh. Palate is mildly carbonated and quite dry throughout. Flavor starts surprisingly mild given the aroma, some orange citrus and lemon. It turns more bitter towards mid-palate, transitioning into a hoppy, hot finish. Overall, a decent tasting DIPA, that unfortunately stops short of being truly tasty. Flavors may in fact be a little too soft and muddy for me.

I have had this many times and have never been impressed. That being said, I have never had it fresh, so it might be better than I think it is, but whatever, here goes... The aroma is mostly sticky sweet malt with flat old hops that have some grapefruit and citrus but are mostly cheese to me. Pours a golden orange pour with a thin head. The flavor is also just too sticky sweet for me. It does become fruity, but like gross hard candy fruit or something. Light bitterness rounds out the finish, but the hops are flat and old. Every bottle I have ever had has been like this... Too sweet and malt heavy. West Coast IPA please?