Summit India Pale Ale

Brewed by Summit Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
St. Paul, Minnesota USA

(bottle from Coaltrain Wine & Liquor in Colorado Springs). Pours a clear copper color. Medium size off white head. Hoppy and light burnt aroma. Hoppy flavor. Avg duration. Bitter finish, which is somewhat astringent. Alcohol texture. No lacing. Soft carbonation.

12 z bottle from Spirits RB. Hmm is this a poorly made IPA or a generously hopped APA?? I wish it was the latter so I could rate it higher. Grassy aroma with lots of caramel malts. Flavor is simiiliar with the malts pushing into the foreground and the hops, which were grassy and dull, were secondary. Drinkable is the best thing I can say about this one.

Her clear amber body peeks through her glass confines to wink at me while a small head scatters into tufts of foam which seem to congregate into an outer ring. She does produce some decent lace with a couple swirls, but they don’t stick around for long. Before we have a chance to get intimate, she blows kisses my way; nips of sweet grass, grapefruit, orange, and nectarines. A hint of pine, more grass, lemon, and some astringent vegetal notes remind me of asparagus. While it all sounds deliciously inviting, I had to work three times as hard as I normally do to savor and dissect her nose. Why? It was very faint, indeed. I am hoping that her body has more to deliver than her nose. My first impression of her body is astringency; thin and far more vegetal than any IPA I have tasted to date. Dry and thin on top of my tongue, bitter grass, lemon, and grapefruit tingle a little, and then fade very quickly in a disappointingly weak finish. The more time we spend together, the less I am satisfied. Not much else changes, though a bit more thin grapefruit and grass notes creep into her palate, but far too little too late.

Maybe I should have waited a few beers after their Winter Ale to try their IPA, but even so I doubt my overall opinion would change. She wasn’t a drain-pour, but I had to work myself through from start to finish which makes beer a chore, not a pleasurable passion. Ravage their Winter Ale all you can, but you will take your chances with their IPA.

(12oz bottle) Pours a clear copper body with a small off-white head. Aroma of nuts, grass, earth, and some citrus. Flavor of hops (grass), toasted grain, and caramel malt with a bitter finish.

bread, floral, dough, butterscotch, brown, clear, a minimal head, white foam, medium sweetness, lightly bitter, lightly sour, light body, thin feel, flat, abrupt finish

This is my first Summit beer and I must say it is not bad. The smell is subtle biscuit and bland aroma. i was afraid there would be no hops! The taste assuaged me with a hop presence but not focus. This beer is very balanced and easy to drink. I drink so many hop-bombs that its refreshing to find a balanced IPA that I actually like. Serving type: bottle Reviewed on: 04-02-2008 04:11:29

12oz bottle. Deep orange-copper color, soapy head. The aroma seems off to me, some butterscotch. The taste is dominated by malt, which overwhelms any hop character it might have had. Lacks crispness and doesn’t come off fresh at all. An embarrassingly bad example of an IPA. Re-rate- OK, so Im having this one again, fresh this time. The aroma is more stable, though I can see how it would age poorly. The hops are much more present, though in a simplistic soapy bitter way. Certainly not as offensive as the above rating. Light and easy on the palate, while displaying some assertive hop characters. Upped from a 2.3 to a 3.2

Bottle, pours dark copper. I could not get any aroma except a fish type smell. Maybe it is expired. The taste is underwhelming with malt and hop notes. I hope this is expired because the hops are at a minimun for an IPA.