Widmer Brothers Broken Halo IPA

Brewed by Widmer Brothers Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Portland, Oregon USA

12 oz. bottle. Pours a dark golden yellow with minimal head. Aroma: Hops & pine. Flavor: Hoppy, slightly sweet, slightly bitter.

Bites at first a little bit, as a usual IPA would... but finishes extremely clean and leaves the palate hanging with slight fruity feel. The balance between the hops and smooth flavor is undeniable as you can never really have a bad sip of this overall satisfying beer, regardless of the temperature of the beer. There are better IPA’s out there, but you can never go wrong with this beer and being an Oregonian I get it more often than not.

Copper colored with a decent head. Aroma is floral/pine with a touch of citrus and a little malt. Flavor was a nice pleasant hoppy burst of pine, perfume, and citrus with a caramel malt backing. Not bitter but zesty and pleasant. Sessionable. One of the better beers from Widmer.

February 2008 Bottle Date; Sampled April 2008
A vigorous pour produces a three-finger thick, frothy, somewhat large-bubbled, pale tan colored head that leaves some nice, spotty lace patterns on the sides of my tulip as it slowly subsides. The beer is a brilliantly clear copper color as it sits on my desk, but shows a bright, golden-copper color when held up to the light. The aroma is a mix of cracker-like malt and citrus / pin hops, though definitely leans towards the latter. Aromas of orange peel, grapefruit, light pine (towards the end) melds with a husky, saltine-cracker like malt character and perhaps a touch of honey-like malt sweetness.

Somewhat dry up front, the beer picks up a touch of malt sweetness towards the middle with helps to accent the fruity hop character. Bitter hop notes and a grassy, herbal, pine-sap like hop-flavor are more accented than in the aroma. The bitterness is nice bracing from the get go, though, even with the light malt profile, this beer could use even a bit more bitterness. There is quite a bit of citrus flavors here, it leans towards grapefruit and tangelo.

A decent IPA, despite being an IPA, it could use a bit more malt character that would help to accent the existing hop character a bit more. I do like how easy drinking this beer is, it is quite quaffable.

Purchased: <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? Liquors, Tucson AZ

Small, off-white head that diminishes over the period of about 2 minutes. Nice golden color. Floral hops in the aroma with a bit of spiciness. Taste is nice and bitter. Mouthfeel is dry.

Bottle. Pours a dark slightly hazy gold. Small to no head. Laces well on the side of the glass. Nose is citrus/acidic with a bit of pine. Attack is nice and hoppy and bitter but very light, easy to drink. finish is a bit ’off’, bitter but some other flavours floating around. not a bad IPA.

22 ounce bottle. Pours a slightly dark golden color with no head. Taste is of citrus, pine and grapefruit. Aroma is of pine and grapefruit. Overall, this beer is pretty tasty and easy to drink. I would buy this again.

A very nice IPA courtesy of cbkschubert. Aroma was so so. Pine and slight citrus. Pour was a nice deep gold with a one finger off white head. Taste was nice and hoppy. Very earthy and malty with a medium bitter aftertaste. This is a great beer to use as an ambassador to craft beer. Not too big, easy to drink and full all around.