400 Pound Monkey

Slightly haze golden yellow colour with a decent sized white head. Smells caramel, malts, some hops, slightly fruity, slightly fresh, some yeast. Tastes bitter, slightly sharp, hoppy, fruity and round. Good mouthfeel with nice carbo and a medium body.

Bottle: Orange color with a bit of sandy head. Nose is maltier than expected, as is the flavor. Sort of subdued in the hops department with more emphasis on the caramel malt and toffee. Doesn’t really fit in with the IPAs, but not sure what to classify it as... drinks fine though.

On tap. Has a clear and dark straw colour with a small white head. Malty and fruity aromas of barley, grass, hay, and some cheese. More sweet fruit in the mouth. Some wood and a good dose of hops, and a little bit cat piss. Slick mouthfeel with a pronounced bitterness. A decent IPA with some interesting aromas.

On tap at Taco Mac. Pours gold with a small, beige head. The aroma is caramel, floral and pine hops, and a little lemon. The flavor is fairly well balanced bitterness and malt sweetness. The palate is medium, smooth and a little acidic. Overall, this is a fair IPA.

Draught @ O’Hara’s Freehouse
Aroma has hay and sweet, exotic fruits, Also hints of toffee. Flavour has sweet, exotic fruits, some metal and hay. Heller bock meets IPA. The result is strong pale ale.

On tap @ Cardinal, Stavanger. Pours golden, with a nice creamy head. Aroma of grass/ hay and some faint citrusy notes. Flavour of sweet malts and some orangey hoppines, but very little bitterness in the finish. Rather boring, and frankly a bit disappointing.

Among my New Year’s Resolutions is that I will try better to enjoy IPAs as soon I buy them and not make the excuse of "seeing how these age." So I just got this loose bottle at Binny’s. Has a friendly, hoppy smell right under the cap. If I’m not mistaken, both English earthy bitterness and a bit of American pine in here. Pours a puffy head over a golden, slightly amber beer, well-filtered, with a swirl of bubbles. Taste seems to have malt and hops running on separate tracks here. By now I think the Pacific hops are in the majority, focus on pine flavors, but with some extra bitterness besides. malts are quite distinct, with just a bit of light toast to them. Probably much sweeter than I’m tasting here, thanks to the extra bitterness. There should probably more distinct hop character beyond the mere bitterness, but I guess that’s the profile they want to achieve, so go right on ahead, guys.

On tap at Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. Hazy deep golden to orange colour, large to moderate white head. Strong sweetish aroma and flavour of crystal malts + fruity and piney American hops, notes of oranges. A quite good IPA.

Draught@Beer Hunters (BB 07/2012)
Clear pale amber color, good white head. Piney, ryeish aroma. Light bodied. Flavor is also piney and ryeish, light fruityness. More like a bit boring pale ale than an IPA. Well, label say "English style IPA", maybe this is it.

bottle. probably the least impressive - maybe even bad, IPA. So called "English Style" which is not a compliment. Given a 2.9 out of respect to the style but not an enjoyable beer.