Bell's Big Head San Diego Style Ale

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 7

Batch # 8369. Received in a trade with moejuck. A bit suprised at how inferior this was to Hopslam. Perhaps it was a bad bottle. Maybe it had a rough journey. But the consensus amongst those who tasted it was that it was either below average or just slightly above. There were some issues I had with the beer (aroma being oxidized) and the flavor (missing some of that hard-core WC hop blast of bitter goodness) but on the whole it wasn't bad.

The beer poured out a dark amber color with a two-finger thick head. Aroma is one-two pine/citrus hop punch, but the lingering wet paper was too hard to ignore. The hop flavor, as I mentioned, just didn't have that "wow" factor like Hopsickle, Pliney, White Knuckle and many other WC DIPA's. It also had a subtle spiciness to it, which was nice. A bit too much alcohol for me too. Not bad, but hardly a WC DIPA. Hopslam was much better.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

Tasted at the May Northern California Beer Tasting. (Batch # 8369). This imperial IPA poured a deep golden amber color from a 12oz bottle. Medium sized white foamy head. The aroma is piney and grapefruity hops. A medium bodied double IPA. The malts are caramel and sweet. The hops are piney and grapefruity. Nice balance. Sorta tastes like a west coast IPA. Lots of hops not a lot of hop bitterness. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and crisp. Aftertaste is bitter.