Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5.5
draft at O’Brien’s - Pours dark amber with a thin head. It smells of malt and sour fruit. The flavor is really sour with some malty tones and to me, not much wild yeast funk in there. I don’t know what it is, but I’m really not a big fan of this one. I didn’t particularly care for the sourness with this mix of flavors.
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 9
Growler from brewery pours gold with nice lasting off white head and sheet lacing. The aroma is full of grapefruit and tangelo to spice hops along with some pine hops in there as well. There is a backbone of malty sweetness in the nose too. The taste is thick and rich and viscous with grapefruit, tangelo and orange peel hop flavor and hop bitterness. Excellent mix of fresh tasty hops that grows more and more bitter into the finish. A malty sweetness tries to be heard over the torrent of hop notes but never really gets it done. Absolutely delicious brew, Wow!
Ibrew2or3 (10819) reviewed O'Briens IPA from Alpine Beer Company 18 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
On tap @ San Diego Brewing brewpub. Pours a clear deep gold with lasting wisp of a white head. The aroma is big and in your face with copious amounts of fresh grapefruit hops and a decent backbone of malts and then a bit of spice hops. Excellent tasting IPA. Yum. It begins with a rush of grapefruit hops that are both bitter and sweet and they seem to be growing more and more bitter as the taste moves forward. A tasty level of malts is also there to play against the hop flavor and bitterness. Well balanced example of the classic West Coast IPA.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Bottle shared by Styles. Deep orange-red body, thin buff head. Pumpkin spices are prominent in the aroma, also wine barrel tanginess. Brettanomyces funk noticeable but not in control. Nutmeg and cinnamon dominate the body, and play off the sour, tannic wine barrel notes and bretty funk. They don’t necessarily play well together. More precisely, they keep to themselves and don’t interact to the degree I anticipated.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8
From dirty_martini, thanks Larry. Pours a dark copper color with reddish/orange tints, has a medium clarity and a small head. Aroma is a present woody brett funk. Surprisingly, I do not get a lot of spices, for me its just represented as a strong oak/wood character. Ok, maybe nutmeg but its hard to separate the wood and the spices in presence of the sour. The yeasty part adds a slightly more complex sourness with hints of cherry juice. Taste starts off just regular slightly malty amber and then at the end the sourness kicks. Comes out as a nicely malty amber with a long lingering sourness. I like it, a very nice sessionable sour beer.
22oz bottle, Hobgoblin tulip glass.
Ibrew2or3 (10819) reviewed Ichabod Ale (2007) from Alpine Beer Company 18 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Courtesy of TheCheeseMan (formerly known as dsnowden), thanks Dan. Pours a copper color with off white head. It has a big aroma of candy, some sourness, fruit, wood, mild spice and some faint pine hops hiding out the back shrouded in a bit of funk mustiness. A mild sourness hits first in the flavor followed by berries that go from sweet to tart. About that point the wood note in the back ground wells up to be heard. Toward the finish the berry tartness comes back but the sweeter berry fruitiness does not. The Belgian sugar, faint caramelization and tartness ride out into the after taste. Very cool. Would be good to try it with more age.
bb (18428) reviewed Nelson from Alpine Beer Company 18 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Draft. Golden beer with an off-white head. Very fruity (summer/tropical) aroma. Summer/tropical fruit flavor (lychees?) with malt and earthy spice backing. medium body. Lingering fruit with some pine/earthiness and spice.
Ibrew2or3 (10819) reviewed Pure Hoppiness from Alpine Beer Company 18 years ago
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 8.5
Bomber pours clear gold with frothy white head. The aroma is sweet malts, citrus grapefruit hops and spice to floral hops. The aroma is a bit too mild. The taste is sweet sugary malts, floral hops, spicy hoppiness, and some citrus hops. Nice mix of hops and sweet malts that lean toward hops. Amazing this isn't an IIPA when this was being produced originally.
Irishboy (4674) reviewed Great from Alpine Beer Company 18 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
325ml bottle from KingO; Thanks Joey! 2007; Nose is woody, caramel, dark fruit and molasses; lightly hazed copper with a smalll glass-lacing beige head; flavor is very oaky wood; caramel, raisins, and a little hop bitterness. Alcohol was completely covered at 15%. Underated!
Irishboy (4674) reviewed Captain Stout from Alpine Beer Company 18 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Bomber from KingG, Thanks; Nose of chocolate, roastiness, and light coffee notes; Almost opaque but clear very dark brown with a medium tan head; flavor is chocolate, coffee, and light smoke with a tingly mouthfeel. Good stout but no where near outstanding!