Hazy copper red with off-white full head. Massive hop of citrus and catty (Simcoe). Also piney. Chewy full bodied with lots of yeast on the mouthfeel. Big meadowy hops on the flavor.

GABF 2007. A pale golden beer with a huge orangey head. The aroma is sweet malty with strong notes of grapefruit and hops. The flavor is sweet with strong notes of over, that almost makes it acidic, and gives it strong notes of grapefruit.

Rich reddish colour. Thin head. Hazy...looks beautiful. Quite cheesy hop nose with lots of caramel. Oddball taste - melon, earth, wood. None of it makes any sense. Really dry finish despite the chewy taste. For me, this simply did not come together.

9oz glass @ brewpub. Thick head and copper color. Aroma is resiny hop with bittered caramel. Overall I would describe it as a sweet and bitter hop juice. Taste starts with a grapefruit and tropical fruits hoppiness and leads to a candy sweet caramel maltiness. Finishes off with a long sweet bitterness. Bitterness is strong and always present but never overwhelming. This beer is definitely returnable.

2004 draught @ the brewery. Deep red with light brown and yellow tinges, light chill haze with a big yellow head. Aroma is faint but has lightly sweet caramel malt and a touch of spicy floral hops. This year’s release is a double IPA coming in at 8% abv and just tasting all around more hoppy, fuller bodied and more malty than a regular IPA. Flavor is sticky, sweet, bitter and spicy all rolled in to one. The hops are bitter but not unbalanced due to the huge caramel presence. Creamy, smooth, luxurious body, with low carbonation really adds to the big rich effect. Honey, toffee and nutty sweetness on the finish, with a fruity hops appeal and almost a candied/spice flavor. Not just malt, hops and a quick finish, but a lovely complexity of flavors on the end. Seems like a holiday brew, with lots of candied citrus and slight syrupy pine. What I suspect Yulesmith would taste like, if you toned down the hops (they’re both a double red holiday sort of ale). This one may be just a bit too sweet, caramelly and rich/creamy for my liking. Would actually benefit from more hops.
June 2005 draught at the brewery. As I said in my previous review, some more hops would do it good, and this year, they followed through on that! Quite dry and bitter now, with still a good caramel malt backbone, but not quite as flavorful. I really like the creamy, sticky caramel and just wanted more hops bitterness and flavor. This one certainly has the bitterness and drying balance, but seems to have stepped down a notch with the creamy, rich caramel body. Or maybe I’m just too damned picky . . .