Saturday, December 31, 2011

San Diego Beer Review: Double Shaka-Imperial Mucho Aloha IPA


Never seen or heard of this beer before, bought it at Sprouts in Carlsbad tonight. After researching it a bit on their website, I am a bit confused. In one area of the website it looks like the brewers are from San Diego County (Bonus points!) but they are brewing/bottling at Bayhawk Ales in Irvine, Orange County, California http://butchersbrewing.com/#about-tab . However, a Google search came up with another page showing that they have a location in Barrio Logan, near Petco Park http://www.butchersbrewing.com/about.php ...(bonus points either way but you guys might want to clear up your website...)

Imperial IPA

Appearance: Medium amber color, cloudy, small head with very low retention. Agitation will form a small head of approximately 1mm

Smell: Sweet with caramel undertones. Once agitated there is a definite alcohol odor but it is
not unpleasant

Taste: Slight alcohol taste/burn on first blush, caramel, bitterness of hops do not kick in until well after swallowing

Mouthfeel: Silky, very low carbonation, grips the tongue slightly

Overall: A different take on an Imperial or Double IPA. In my experience Double/Imperial IPAs are very heavy on the hops with a strong flowery/citrus aroma and very bitter. This beer is not overpowering for an Imperial IPA and is fairly easy to drink, even at an ABV of 10%.
Not sure if this is correct but:
Butchers Brewing
1848 Commercial Street
San Diego, CA 92113

San Diego Beer Review: AleSmith IPA


AleSmith
9368 Cabot Drive
San Diego, CA 92126

www.alesmith.com

Bottle-conditioned IPA
Appearance: Very light amber colored, clear, medium carbonation, can easily attain a head (must be careful with your pour), head retention is good, head will grab the sides of the glass from start to finish, head reforms easily after slight agitation.

Smell: Flowery, with resin/citrus undertones

Taste: Light well built IPA with very slight bitterness. There are no overpowering flavors here...nice and balanced

Mouthfeel: Velvety/Grips the tongue slightly on the way down but with medium carbonation

Overall: Easy to drink and not too high on the alcohol content (7.5%). A very good example of what a true IPA should taste like.

Been putting this off for too long...finally jumping in

So I actually created this blog back in November 2009...redesigned it in May 2010...now it is December 31, 2011 and I am actually going to start posting! HAHA...

God I know how to procrastinate sometimes...