Tampa Bay Old Elephant Foot IPA

Brewed by Tampa Bay Brewing Co.
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Tampa, Florida USA

Draft. Pours dark copper color with a pretty big white head and a lot of lace. Smell is pretty intense with hops. Hoppy flavor that is very well balanced. Sweet and piney. A very good IPA. I tried a cask conditioned version of this as well and that was splendid.

Draught at TBBC. Simple hops nose, uncomplex. Some cloudiness, thin patchy white head. Extremely dry, unbalanced hop profile, boring and simple.

Cask-conditioned version has mellowed hops, allowing the complexity in the malts to come through and make it a little more interesting.

Very solid IPA. Characterized by a nice amount of fresh sour flavor. Smooth and enjoyable.

Draft at TBBC. Pour wields a creamy looking, cloudy amber body with an off white head. Aroma is pungent pine needles and citrus fruit jsut sliced open, big Cascade hops. Flavor is resiny hops, mostly masking the malt and hefty in presentation from start to finish. Palate was medium bodied, at times a little jumbled and unorganized, like the hops were trying to find their way back to the open air. Finishes rough, with a lasting hop bite that was a little unpleasant. I enjoyed the taste of this one, but not so much what was left in the end of each sip. This beer is suited well for the wonderful menu items it is skillfully utilized as a component of. Decent.

Medium amber body with a pillowy beige head. Aroma is hops, hops, hops right away, giving clear warning what this beer is all about. The flavor doesn’t disappoint in this regard, with plenty of pine and citrus hops, as well as some peppery notes in the background. The maltiness barely registers, but is there enough to lend some balance. It’s a bit brash, and maybe one-dimensional, but for a hop junkie it’s just what the doctor ordered.

On tap @ Tampa Bay Brewing Company (they’ve re-opened). Golden color with creamy white head. A sheet of lacing clings to the glass. Light aroma that seems to be more malty than hoppy. Full pine hop flavor with a nice caramel malt backbone. The brew leaves a lingering pine hop taste behind.

This particular IPA has a special place for me because I made an IPA that used this recipe. The one we made was exactly the same, Its got the right amount of hops that give this the perfect bitter kick.

On tap at the brewpub. Poured orange with a white head. Aroma was sweet citrus, mostly lemon and orange. Some hops were present in the aroma, but it was all about the sweet citrus notes. The flavor was dominated by the sweet citrus flavors with solid hops backing them. This one had a very smooth malt finish. Similar to a Bells Two Hearted.