Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
2004 bottle
Pours a copper-amber, pretty light and completely filtered with a good white head. Aroma of apples? papery, dry hops and lots of pale malt. Flavor is like hop juice, not extremely bitter, but just very wet tasting on the palate, with fruity yeast and no sweet malt. Papery on the finish, with too much hops and not enough other stuff. Quite watery. 6/3/5/2/10.
2006 bottle, now contract brewed by Mercury Brewing (whereas it was previously brewed by Cape Ann).
Much firmer head, better retention, per Mercury, bottle conditioned and with a soft haze. Golden, fiery orange, like a bright sunset.
Hoppy nose, very dry, with some grass, dry straw and light orange rinds. Dry grains and a touch of soft honey. The flavor mimics the nose, being a bit more citric, but not overly bitter. Very attenuated and clean, with strong toastiness and a fair amount of malt sweetness (caramel and base sugars) on the finish. Engaging mouthfeel, always Mercury’s strongpoint. No alcohol noted. Much improved, not surprisingly. Score is for this version.
Clarkvv (16523) reviewed Stone Cat IPA from Ipswich Ale Brewery 21 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
2004 bottle. Pours a soft orange with amber/red tinges and a big eggshell head. Plenty of sediment in this bottle conditioned sample. Aroma is faint, light plastic, soily, dirty hops. Flavor is very dry and bitter, no real attempt at sweet malt balance here. Tastes much like pine nettles. In fact, it tastes almost like eating a whole hop, bitter, light metal notes. I want to dislike this, but somehow this strange beer is not terrible. It want to have English flavors, but huge american bitterness. At least it was a unique take.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
An unclear orange beer with a huge white head. The aroma is yeasty and hoppy. The flavor is sweet with a clear hop character and a dry end.
Sloefmans (15389) reviewed Stone Cat IPA from Ipswich Ale Brewery 21 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
Orange to light amber; dirty-amberish head. Nose with chalk, fresh lemony and leafy hops. Smells more like a British cask ale than as an USA IPA - including the little ’dishwater’ aroma. Taste is harsh, chalky and metallic hopbitterness, with very little aroma. Again dishwashing, again English, but not as the better cask ales. In the aftertaste, the metallic harshness gets worse. Warming up, some malt sweetness appears, but it gets choked by the metallic bitterness. Not very full-bodied, but that’s British again. If the main purpose was to recreate an English style, this might be called succesfull. They might, however, tried better examples, as TT Landlord, King Alfred’s, of Oakhams. Instead...
Clarkvv (16523) reviewed Stone Cat Blonde from Ipswich Ale Brewery 21 years ago
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
2004 bottle. Pours a bottle conditioned, mildly hazy vibrant golden-yellow with some touches of orange. Big foamy white head. Aroma has hints of fresh leafy, soily hops. A lovely fresh and very light citrus aroma is subtle on the nose as well. Flavor is of herbal-like hops, minty, leafy and quite flavorful. Moderate sweetness from the light barley malt and a very pleasing palate; lightly bubbly, good chewy texture, wonderful crisp, if not a bit spicy finish. Very fresh tasting. Not a watery light example of the style.
Earlier Rating: 11/21/2003 Total Score: 2.6
On tap at the Black Cow tap and Grill in Hamilton, MA. Draft. Pours a pale gold, clear, with a good amount of white head. very little lacing. Aroma is of a dry straw/hay hops, with maybe a touch of spice. Very dry flavor throughout, body remains medium but lightens up as it warms. Starts out with a very crisp straw hops flavor, light hay, and lots of lemon. Malt is ever so slightly present but never really comes out. Finish is rather bland, dry, lackluster. The hops profile is decent and at least there is a hint of malt, the spiciness is good, but way too much lemon, and a weird sugary thing going on in the finish.
Clarkvv (16523) reviewed Stone Cat Scotch Ale from Ipswich Ale Brewery 21 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 9
Spring 2004 bottle. Wow!!! What a beer. Very excited to rate this one. On the pour, my biggest complaint is the obvious filtration. Mostly clear ruby-mahogany, with some darker black/browns. Good dark cream colored head that sticks atop the beer. The aroma is quite peculiar. While not overly aromatic (the aroma dosent jump in your face), when you do take the time to sniff close to this stuff, it is about as complex and wonderful as a scotch ale has smelled to me. Dark black anise, molasses, light malted peat, rich but dry caramel, some other spices that I can’t name in there as well. Flavor however, goes a step farther with complexity. The black licorice is quite obvious and in the background a deep rich malt develops. At first I thought I detected smoked peat, but I never could find this flavor again, so I’m not sure. Spicy, rich, dark and wonderful. The malt is neither too sweet nor too dry. Intensely engaging on the palate. It has that anaesthetic property that you feel when you are drinking jagermeister. At the end of the glass, my tongue was slightly numbed. Some hazlenut in there as well, but very subtle. Flavor never thins, the body is medium to medium full and there is a moderate carbonation. This was a true gem and I’m glad I found this single bottle, because there were no more six packs of this to be found in the area. Highly recommended (take your time drinking this one). Drank this one only slightly chilled.
Clarkvv (16523) reviewed Stone Cat Hefeweizen from Ipswich Ale Brewery 21 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
2004 bottle. Very hazy straw yellow mixed with some darker golds. Bottle conditioned. Small white head, rapidly disippating. Quite fizzy. Smells lightly sweet (corn, bubble gum, clove). Flavor is sweet, but not overbearingly so. There is a spritzy carbonation to this, that adds a pleasing texture, and while the body may be a bit underdeveloped, the clove and bubble gum taste real enough to keep this one afloat. Ends quickly and cleanly. A pretty good beer all around, great as a session hefeweizen and perhaps a deeper flavor than some of the above-average examples. I see where they’re going with the summer session thing, but I really would like this beer more with a bigger body and perhaps a hint more balancing hops.
Sloefmans (15389) reviewed India Pale Ale from Ipswich Ale Brewery 21 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6
Thick bottom layer gives "interesting" haze in orange-amber ale; miscellaneous yellow-amber head. Hop flowers, opened hopbail nose, flowery - nearly perfumey. Very bitter indeed, hop-oil like, near bile taste. There's (coloured) malt underneath, but it's gotten completely overwhelmed by this bitter onslaught. Medium-bodied only. Oily mouthfeel, probably due to the hop(...). Yeast deposit gives more creamy feeling. Hopbitterness, indeed, but this one is totally without any subtelty. Nice nose, but the total unbalance ruins it.
Clarkvv (16523) reviewed Stone Cat Barley Wine from Ipswich Ale Brewery 21 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Winter 03-04 bottle. Just pitch black. Some dark espresso/charcoal tinges on the edges. Opaque, bottle conditioned with a small, light tan creamy head. Smells of deep, dark prunes, figs and a moderate amount of malt (lightly chocolatey, some port wine hints). Lightly salty, a bit of bittersweet hops. Flavor is immediately big, thick and bold. Salty and malty, it has tons of dark fruit and malt. Medium sweet chocolate, vinous dark grape hints. Hops come out somewhat on the finish and there is a brief glimpse of bitterness, but it passes and the flavor lingers on in a lovely chocolatey/pruney way. I dont know how long they cellared this before releasing it, but it does not come off young for being just released. Balanced and no hints of thinning. This should age marvelously. Will hopefully develop some more interesting complexities, as it is a bit delinquent in that category. Wonderful example of the English style and superbly drinkable. 8/5/8/5/17
Winter 04-05 bottle Kind of disappointed here, this one grows less English this year. Lots more crystally, hard American malt feel to it, tons of caramel and definite American hops (though not overly bitter). My biggest complaint is that it loses the anise and black licorice that were so appealing in last year’s bottle. Gone is the port-wine like vinousness and in place is just another well-made ubiquitous American Barleywine. Too bad I sent my last 03 bottle to Denmark, hopefully Jacob likes it!. 7/5/7/4/14
Dogbrick (24210) reviewed Oatmeal Stout from Ipswich Ale Brewery 22 years ago
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
This beer pours a tenebrous, nearly black color with a medium thick light brown head. Head retention is not great and the lacing is good. The aroma is very roasty coffee and grain. Rich and satisfyingly tasty, with a pleasing blend of coffee, malt, and chocolate. There is an underlying faint sweetness throughout as well. The deceptively bitter finish kind of worms its way in. The hops are enough to keep this beer very drinkable. Overall I enjoyed this one.