Sweetwater IPA

Brewed by Sweetwater Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Atlanta, Georgia USA

Bottle from Cracked Kettle. Hazy copper orange colour, dense orange-white head. Really strong citrus aroma, mainly grapefruit and bitter hops. Flavour is bitter, grapefruit and oranges, hops upfront, a little caramel sweetness to balance the bitterness, with an earthy dry grapefruit bitter finish that lingers.

Copper/amber with an offwhite head. Strong grapefruit aroma. Strong hop flavor, well balanced. Low bitterness for an IPA. Awesome blast of hoppy freshness in a very drinkable beer.

Draught. Clear amber with nice even white head. Cannabis hop aroma. Sweet caramelly body adds balance. Nothing unusual or special and in fact a little boring. Has a syrupy character that could become cloying.

12 oz bottle purchased at Frugal MacDoogal’s in Nashville. Poured a clear light amber color with orange highlights and a thin white head. The aroma was heavy with grapefruit and other citrus notes. The flavor had a good malt base, that gave way to grapefruit and pine. A lingering bitter finish was present. The palate was above average, with good carbonation, a clean mouthfeel and a medium body. I was pleasantly surprised by this brew.

12oz bottle thanks to Kpresley77 & the Espn Bowl. Hazy and amber. Head settles down nicely to just cover the beer and lace around the glass. Bigger grapefruit flavor than what I was expecting. Flavor is not overpowering; it lingers but not cloyingly. Some balancing sweetness from the malts but not much. Very much an IPA.

On tap the SweetWater Draft House in the Atlanta airport. Comes out a hazy amber orange (which clears up as it warms a little) with a soapy white head that dissipates quickly and leaves only traces of lacing. Smell has floral hops up front with some lemon grass and hints of pine. There is an emerging tropical fruit sweetness that comes out as it warms up. There are some bready malts under the hops but it takes some looking. Taste is highly bitter up front with some fruity citrus hops coming out from underneath the strong bitterness. The bready malts come out more than in the aroma and balance the hops well before the floral hops, mainly pine, leave a lasting bitterness in the finish. Carbonation is strong and helps leave the palate sticky with floral hops. This is a very good IPA. In fact, I had forgotten how good it was. This is, hands down, the best year-round offering from Sweetwater.

On tap at Brickstore Pub. Pours a bright orange color with a small white head that quickly settles to a thin film. The aroma shows grapefruit hops, orange peel, and a hint of sweet toffee malts. The flavor is more the same with the orange peel and grapefruit hops up front with caramel and toffee malts balancing things out. Medium bodied with nice carbonation and goes down smooth. The orange in the flavor really makes this one. A nice IPA to have on draft.

12 oz bottle. Very Solid sessionable brew shared with thanks by an Atlanta local. Alcoho0l is well hidden, great malt hop balace. Sorry about the skimpy review. Tick, Tock, TICK!