Mad River Jamaica Sunset India Pale Ale

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

It pours a slightly hazy amber and burnt-orange with a thick and pillowy white head and some lacing climbing up the glass. An aroma of caramel malts, hops, pine, orange and grapefruits, bread/biscuits, mango, and spices. The mouthfeel is smooth and somewhat thick. Flavors of caramel malts, hops, pine, grapefruit and orange, mango, bread/biscuits, some bitterness, and spiciness. Great!

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

A hazy copper colored ale. Big impressive frothy off white head. Some hang time settling into a nice lacing. Floral, orange nose. Light to moderate body with a degree of smoothness. So far so good. Small bite of citrus hops in the taste. But all in all just what te doctor ordered when the temperature outside hovers in the mid 90's.

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

Pours a hazy dark gold with a quickly evaporating white head. Aroma contained light amounts of citrus and floral hops, maybe some oranges too. Taste is citrusy and sweet but with plenty of bitterness in the finish. Not exceptional but still a good IPA.

Aroma: 4 | Appearance: 3 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 4

I've been a fan of Mad River's beers for a few years now. Each beer I've enjoyed from them seem to be either pushing the envelope a bit or hitting the style perfectly. This beer was, unfortunately, an exception to their sterling reputation with me. What I got was an orangey, wet paper flavored beer low on hops, and full of unneccesary sweetness for an IPA.

The beer pours out a light orange/gold color with an, at first, 1/2 inch off-white head but dissipated very, very quickly. I noticed tiny specks of floaties in suspension thru the slight haze of the beer. The aroma of the beer smacked of old orange juice and wet paper. Not what I'm looking for in an IPA. With a bit of a hestitation, I went ahead and took a swig. Sweet malts, undefined. A touch of bitterness but again...just undefineable. More like a pale ale, than an IPA. The sweet/bitter combo seems out of whack. Nothing awful about it, just really poor for the style.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 6

Pours a murky orange color with a thin off-white head that almost completely evaporates away but somehow there's a little sticky lacing. The aroma is fresh and almost non-existant with the strongest, and really only scent, being a sweet fruity malt. Sweet malty flavor, caramel, oranges, with subtle hops towards the finish. The bottle states that this is their west coast version of the style. I suppose the malty-caramel-orange base is on par with the style but without the aggressive, or really hardly any hops, it ends up being just sweet and syrupy. This isn't an awful beer but it was a bit of a disappointment.

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

This beer pours a cloudy orange colour with a medium sized white head. A noticeably large amount of sediment floats throughout the glass. Aroma is well hopped, and slightly piney. Mouthfeel is full, well carbonated, creamy with flavors are of grapefruit, lime and apricots.

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

Cloudy orange with an average head. Slightly orangey hop aroma. Bit of tingly hops in flavor but the finish fades away too soon leaving you unsatisfied.

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

Hazy orange colour, white bubbly head. Hoppy orange in aroma. Orange at first, and then a hoppy kick in the flavour. Semibitter fruity flavour. Pleasant palate, but a bit too much and too sharp carbonation.

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

Very good looking beer, it is a very hazy,dark orange,with a beautiful thick,billowy off white head, loads of great lace down the glass. Nice hoppy aroma though quite reserved compared to other West Coast IPAs. the flavour is also quite hoppy but it is not over the top and there is a very complex malt backbone to it. Finishes quite sweet. The mouthfeel is the best part of this beer forme. Its very slick,smooth and almost velevety and quite "full" for the style. A nice ,not over the top IPA with a great mouthfeel..will drink again.

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

After a perfectly boring Pilsener, and a perfectly bad Pale Lager, it was high-time that I rewarded my ever-paitent taste buds with some good ol' hoppiness, with a West Coast IPA that (gasp!) I haven't tried yet....

My first impression of this beer was "oranges?". And the second was "ah, hops...". And the third was something less distinct: "Can there ever be a beer that can described as a `Summer IPA`? If so, then I guess this beer would fit the bill...." Light and fruity like a Summer Ale, but with enough girth and bitterness to still sneak into the IPA club-house.

Definate fruit nose here, which is indicative of either Centennial or Cascade hops. It doesn't have the malt bill of a Two Hearted Ale, though, so even if it is 100% Centennial, it can't hold a candle to that masterful Mid-Western IPA. And it's also not in the same ballpark as Anchor's Liberty Ale, even if you somehow think that it's "Cascade, the whole Cascade, and nothing but the Cascade".

Despite all that, this kinda grew on me after a while. Probably nothing I would go out of my way to check out again, but still interesting enough to warrant some positive marks. This is one brewery that I know very little about, but with beers like this, maybe this might someday show up on my "Beer Radar" again.
//TB