Entry 92: Kern River Just Outstanding IPA

Kern River Brewing Co.

Kernville, California


Just Outstanding IPA


Style: India Pale Ale
Availability: Year Round
Format: 22oz
ABV: 6.8%


Bottle text & Info:
"This India Pale Ale has a strong malt character and a large hop profile. We dry hop this beer with Simcoe and Amarillo hops to give it that great floral aroma and citrus finish. If you like a strong IPA, you'll find this one just outstanding." 



Tasting Notes:
Acquired as an extra in a trade with mattolesh of Canyon Country, California. 
Pours a golden orange showing light golden around the edges. A thick, creamy peach colored head that clings like glue and retains well. A lot of grapefruit on the nose followed by some orange blossom. Nice creamy mouthfeel, far from thin. Surprisingly low carbonation actually works on this ale and doesn't damper drinkability. Phenomenal  citrus balanced by sweet malt, like a grapefruit with a spoonful of sugar on top with some pine on an incredibly long finish. This is a great little IPA, so glad I got to try a small scale local west coast IPA. thanks Matt!

Day 80: 03.21.10 Mikkeller Nelson Sauvin Single Hop IPA

Mikkeller

brewed at De Proef BrouwerijMunicipality of Lochristi
Province of East Flanders
Region of Flemish, Belgium


Nelson Sauvin Single Hop India Pale Ale


Style: American India Pale Ale
Availability: ?
Format: 330ml
ABV: 6.9%


Bottle text & info:
Nelson Sauvin Single Hop IPA is made with the New Zealand hops, Nelson Sauvin. This single hop IPA has a refreshing wine-like flavour.


Tasting Notes:
Here we go with the second in the series of single hop tastings. This one is a little known New Zealand hop sometimes blended in some west coast IPA's but rarely tasted in singularity. In the glass we go. Pours a deep orange with a huge two inch head that slowly recedes creating cavernous lacing with heavy clinging. Looks fantastic, smells even better. Huge wafts of tropical citrus blowing out the top. Honeydew, Cantelope, and some passionfruit with just a scraping of sweet malts lingering on the back. Medium to light mouthfeel with hugh tropical melon and grapefruit smack up front mellowed by some minerality encasing chalk and granite notes. Some floral and pepper notes in the mix here as well. A beautifully complex brew for a single hop. This is an incredibly intriguing hop experience considering Nelson Sauvin is relatively unfamiliar to the american market outside of Alpine Brewing's Nelson IPA. A strong showing here from the kiwi hops. Pair with anything that calls for Sauvignon Blanc, this is a quintessential white wine replacement pairing.

Day 59: 02.28.10 Terrapin Hopsecutioner

Terrapin Brewing Co.

Athens, Georgia


Hopsecutioner


Style: American India Pale Ale
Availability: Year Round
Format: 12oz - 6pk
ABV: 7.2%
IBUs: 78
Malt: 2 Row Pale Malt,Munich, Pale Crystal 24L, Victory
Hops: Warrior, Chinook, Centennial, Simcoe, Amarillo, Cascade (dry hop)


Bottle text & Info:
"Here ye, here ye…All hopheads shall herewith rejoice! Terrapin has recruited ye old HOPSECUTIONER to execute the exact hop profile for this killer IPA!"


Tasting Notes: 
Pour clear golden, amber orange with quarter inch white head that quickly recedes and leaves some big sticky rings around the glass. Aroma is slightly muted but still some good citrus in the nose with a heavy backing of caramel notes. Smooth mouthfeel encapsulates a good amount of pine up front followed by some sweet malts and citrus (primarily grapefruit). Give Terrapin some props for resisting the urge to do a training wheels IPA. This isn't anything that blows my skirt up, but it's better than Dogfish 60 minute, and people seem to like that alright. Another welcome addition to some solid East Coast IPA's.

Day 47: 02.16.10 Stone Cali-Belgie

Stone Brewing Co.
Escondido, California


Cali-Belgie


Style: Belgian India Pale Ale
Availability: Limited - Year Round
Format: 22oz
ABV: 6.9%
IBU's: 77
Hops: Columbus, Centennial, Dry hopped with Chinook.


Bottle text & Info:

Tasting Notes:

Alright so half of these have the French speaking "Belgique" label and the other half has the Dutch "Belgie." Looks like we've got the Dutch which I've never actually seen. Only seen the French the last couple years. O.K., so this is supposed to be the exact same recipe as the Stone IPA, just with a belgian yeast strand. Let's check it out.

Pours a brightly clear glowing golden orange with a slow rising legion of extremely large bubbles leading into a quarter inch white head. This actually appears slightly darker than their original IPA. There is some faint citrus on the nose but it is mostly dominated by that of the yeast which is somewhat saison-like. Not gonna lie. I'm pretty excited about this. Anddddd....Yup. Delicious. I'm so glad they didn't pull back too much on the hops. An exotic and thrilling collision of flavors - high alphas v. belgian yeast. This is such a well put together beer. Sophisticated and restrained, this ale is delicate and complex. Some excellent orange citrus cut by candy-like sweetness, held together by some nice pale malts. I love that Stone kept the body on this light and crisp. A deftly handled special release. I hope that some of the great brewers in Belgian get to try this! It's a prime example of heights American brewers are now achieving and a fitting tribute to Belgian yeast.