Huge thanks to matta for scoring me this 05/06 Mendocino Winter IIPA. It pours hazy copper through and through with thin off white head. The aroma has solid malt components of roast and malty sweetness with aged hops in the background. I get faint hints of hop spice, vague citrus and earthiness. The taste is smooth and sweet to start and quickly livens up with a robust yet blunted pulse of citrus hops, pine hops and a moment or two of earthiness. The citrus and pine run the flavor profile front to back given little ground to the full and blended malt bill. The hops are a shadow of their former selves but still deliver moderate bitterness and tasty hop flavor. Zero sense of the ABV.

So I never came across this year’s batch in NYC and none of the locals as far as I know did either. All of a sudden I stop by this out of the way beer distributor that never carries anything special compared to my regular stops and I see this bottle. At first I dismissed it as the 04/05 Porter, thought for 5 seconds of buying it but I still had one in the cellar and moved on. Then later that evening realized that I was looking at the DIPA earlier. Less than a week goes by and I returned to the store and picked up their only bottle. Weird is all can say.
Popped the cap and despite this being a year and a half long, I could smell the hops a foot away from the bottle neck. Poured into a small goblet glass with a tea like amber color and a small head. Aroma is sweet, oily, resiny hop with a strong early grey tea like aspect. Just a hint of sweet caramel maltiness (a bit aged) but tea-hops is the best way for me to describe this. Taste is oily, sweet grapefruit and on the back end there is even a slight aged sweet maltiness. Aftertaste of tea. Feels just a bit syrupy on the cheeks, moderately carbonated, making for a nice present and smooth yet medium bodied feel on the palate. Light bitterness in the finish.

(Bottle 35,5 cl) Pours a slightly hazy amber golden with a small, off-white head. Somewhat fat aroma of caramel malt and aroma hops. Fairly solid body with plenty of caramel and some potent if slightly perfumy aroma hoppiness. A dose of bitterness rounds this off. Decent but far from outstanding. Courtesy of Degarth. 191206

Bottle. A hazy amber beer with a fine off-white head. The aroma is very sweet with strong notes of hops and caramel. The flavor is sweet with lots of hops and grapefruit, and an alcohol presence, that bites the tongue, leading to a very bitter end.

Clear copper color with a small frothy off-white head. Sweet floral hops aroma with a caramel background. Sweet hoppy flavor, hides the alcohol well.

bottle - Pours a nice amber color with a thin head that lingers for awhile and leaves some lacing. The aroma is hoppy with some light citrus. The flavor is of course dominated by the hops with a pretty good malt balance. The 9% alcohol is well masked. The body is of moderate thickness and the hoppy finish lingers for quite awhile, as expected. It’s no Dogfish Head 90 min, but it’s still a good beer.

Hazy amber colour. The aroma is all hop - citrusy, foresty. Rich earthy hop character, too. Tasty enough because I love hops, but not especially balanced nor dynamic.

Clear pour of medium amber with a substantial white head. Citrus aroma with just a touch of pine and caramel. Bitter start to finish with plenty of malt underneath. Long sappy finish. One of Mendocino’s better ones.