Alpine Beer Company O'Brien's IPA

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

Pours into my 25cl tulip glass with an almost two-finger thick, pale tan colored head. The beer is brilliantly clear and is a concentrated copper tinged, rich amber color that shows a perfect, rich copper hue when held up to the light. The aroma is a mix of dank hop character (which is dominant) and fruity, tropical fruit accented citrus notes. Aromas of essential "hemp" oil, light pine tar, and a zesty-green herbal note are lightly balanced by notes of lychee, apricot, candied ruby-red grapefruit, and a touch of vibrant orange blossom. This really is quite the dank hop character, it remains quite smooth, but really captures the essence of sticking your nose into a dime bag quite well (that skunky herbal note is alive and well here).

Lightly sweet, but has an overall effect of being pretty dry. Hints of caramelized malt character add just a touch of grain character along with some light biscuit notes towards the finish. This is clearly an IPA though, as the hops are extremely dominant. Green hop notes, herbal character, hemp oil (though perhaps not quite as distinct as the aroma might suggest), green tobacco notes (this is quite strong actually) and a hop-fruit character that is much reduced compared to the aroma (noticeable notes of lychee and tart grapefruit). This has just enough heft to carry the hops, yet remain quite drinkable; this is as a good IPA should be. This has an expressive, smooth, yet ample bitterness from beginning to end that intertwines itself with the green, dank hop character.

This is perhaps the strongest influenced by its nearest cousin, hoppy IPA that I have ever had. If it wasn't for the soft citrus components it would likely be too much. Despite the "herbal" influence, this still maintains a smooth, never astringent hop character that helps to make this quite quaffable. The aroma is definitely a bit more balanced a bit more between herbal and fruit components, and I certainly can't help but wish the flavor did the same; though the flavor is far from objectionable.

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

On tap at O’briens. Pours with an orange-amber body topped by a medium, off-white head with some lacing. It’s slightly sweet yet bitter and hoppy with a piney note and notes of grass and hay, as well as an underlying rye note. Medium bodied and smooth.