Tasting Notes: The IPA Spotlight - Two Hearted Ale

Brewery: Bell's Brewery
Style: IPA
ABV: 7.0%
Date Poured: July 2008

I'm going to wrap up this IPA Spotlight with one of my favorite IPAs. Straight out of Kalamazoo, Michigan, it's Bell's Two Hearted Ale. Two years since I've had any so I thought it would be a good finale.

Pours a lightly hazy golden orange with a frothy ivory head (a recurring theme). The nose is filled with sweet citrusy hops. Pink grapefruit, apricots and oranges underpinned by a lightly fruity malt.

The beer is just so juicy and sweet, between the malt and the citrusy hops. Orange rind and tangerine, bitter but balanced by a decent pale malt backbone. Full mouth with a surprisingly clean finish. Floral bitterness in the finish and aftertaste. It's beautifully balanced and quite delicious. Bravo.


Bell's Brewery

Tasting Notes: The IPA Spotlight - Indica IPA

Brewery: Lost Coast Brewery
Style: IPA
ABV: 6.5%
Date Poured: July 2008

To continue the series, another west coast IPA, this time from California.

It's a bright but opaque orange in the glass with a rocky eggshell colored head. Nice lacing. sweet cirtusy hops, faint tangerine and grapefruit and some floral hop aromas as well. Faint fruity malt and a hint of kiwi fruit. (?!?!)

Fruity malt with a strident citrusy bitterness. Grapefruit and faint tangerine., orange rind. Long bitter aftertaste very tasty, pale malt backbone but imparts little but body and sweetness.

Easy drinker and damn tasty. A good choice if you find it.


Lost Coast Brewery

Tasting Notes: The IPA Spotlight - Full Sail IPA

Brewery: Full Sail Brewing Company
Style: IPA
ABV: 6.0%
Date Poured: July 2008

This bottle was part of my Florida haul. Full Sail is based in Portland, Oregon but I have never seen their beers this far east.

Pours crystal clear pale copper with a frothy ivory head. Smells of grassy hops and fresh mown grass.

The mouth is full of quite biting bitter hops, herbal, piney and a bit harsh. Not much malt to back it up and the body feels a bit thin as a result. Long herbal bitterness with a clean finish.

This is just OK, it could be a little better with a boost to the malt profile.







Full Sail Brewing Company

Tasting Notes: The IPA Spotlight - Mikkeller Stateside IPA

Brewer: Mikkeller
Style: IPA
ABV: 7.0%
Date Poured: July 2008

An American style IPA brewed by a Denmark based brewing concern? Yep.

(On a side note, it's interesting to watch the evolution over the years as American craft brewers copied and even saved from extinction many European beer styles and now the American influence is transferring back to the "Old Country"...)

Mikkeller even named their IPA "Stateside IPA" in a tribute to the style (or tastes) of the American brewer. It comes in just at my arbitrary limit ABV for a "single" IPA at 7%. (I am usually not so strict about my styles but I had to pick a dividing line between double IPA and regular IPA for the sake of this series...)

It pours a hazy orange copper with a billowing ivory head that leaves sheeting lace but dissipates to a wispy forth fairly quickly. Lots of hops in the nose. Herbal spicy hops, hints of tangerine and a lightly earthy malt aroma. Very nice!

The combo of hops that make the nose so good make the flavor a bit haphazard. Juicy sweet citrusy hops intermingled with some coarse herbal hops, like amarillo or something of that nature. Quite bitter but there's a decent bready malt backbone to hold it all together.

(edit: after checking the website, they do indeed use amarillo hops, as well as cascade and chinook...)

A sweet grapefruity finish and aftertaste followed by a long lingering bitterness.

Pretty tasty. I wish the bittering hops blended more nicely. If they did, it would be stellar.


Mikkeller

Tasting Notes: The IPA Spotlight - Sea Dog IPA

Brewer: Sea Dog Brewing
Style: IPA
ABV: 6.2%
Date Sampled: July 2008

For the second installment of The IPA Spotlight, I picked a beer I was able to lay my hands on in Florida but was an old favorite when I lived in Maine. It's the Sea Dog Old East India Pale Ale. This is clearly an attempt at an English style IPA. It is stated specifically on their website that this ale is a tribute to the ones made in Burton-on-Trent.

Pours a sparkly amber with a half inch of frothy head. The head was persistent and had nice lacing on the glass. Smells of English style hops, perhaps East Kent Goldings. Taste is sweet and malty but quickly gives you a strident balance or herbal hops. I found it well balanced with a medium body. A bit of creaminess in the texture. Aftertaste lingers on the palate for several minutes and is dominated by the hops. Certainly drinkable and truly smooth. A very good product from an under appreciated brewer.



Sea Dog Brewing

Tasting Notes: The IPA Spotlight - Jockamo IPA

Brewer: Abita Brewing Company
Style: IPA
ABV: 6.5%
Date Poured: July 2008

In this age of imperial everything in the American craft beer scene, double and even triple IPAs have stolen the spotlight from their forbears. "Single" IPAs have been forgotten. There was a day when IPA's were the ultimate showcase for hops but are now often dismissed as not being hoppy enough!

So I wanted to highlight a few good IPA's over the next couple of weeks. Not Imperial IPA, not Double IPA, just good honest IPAs. They're still out there.

First up is Jockamo IPA, a new beer from Abita Brewing out of New Orleans.

It pours a bright clear amber with a frothy ivory head. Lots of lacing. Copious amounts of herbal hops in the nose with a touch of fruity malt aroma.

Bitingly bitter herbal hops. Quite snappy with a fruity malt backbone. The hops linger long on the tongue in addition to the long herbal hop aftertaste. It's yummy.


Abita Brewing Company