Samuel Smith India Ale

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

Part of this year's Selection holiday pack. Pours a slight hazy light-amber colour with a frothy warm cap, good retention and lacing. Fruity malt aromas with some grassy hops that don't seem to work together. The taste is not as sweet as the nose let's out to be. Mild caramel, the fruit is light and the hops are better balanced giving a nice bitterness. A little grain follows. Not bad other than the smell, but it gets better with time, with the caramel getting stronger.

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

Pours a huge thick frothy beige head that sticks around for quite a while. Has a golden amber appearance. Leaves some pretty thick dirty lacing. Aromas of citrus hops, light bready malts. Flavours are mainly citrus and herbal hops, some notes of floral hops and some bready malts. Good balance of sweetness and bitterness. Excessive carbonation. Full bodied mouthfeel. Orange peel hints on thr palate in the finish. Good retention.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Huge white head leaves loads of lacing on an impressive looking beer. Aroma is grainy and earthy. The flavour is caramel malt, light fruits, pine and a hint of orange and spice. Medium mouthfeel.Enjoyable English style ipa.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 6

Nose off for style. Sour fruit and biscuit, no hop notes. Pours medium copper body with a full off white head. good retention and good lacing. Mouthperhaps a bit thick for the style, quite creamy.Flavor is sweet and sour and grassy with a bit of hop bitterness at the end. Not right.

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

500ml bottle
5.0% ABV
Royal Bank Plaza LCBO Outlet (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
December 20, 2013
The beer pours a light golden copper colour, translucent, with a white head. Aroma is light fruits, weak caramel, and citrusy hops. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with average carbonation. Flavour is very grainy with some hop bitterness. Not my favourite IPA despite being one of the standard bearers of the style

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

Clearing golden yellow with white lasting foam head, lacing to glass. Aroma is malty with some hops. Taste is a smooth English ale, not too malty, some bitterness. Aftertaste is fresh, a nice beer. (Velp 201301)

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

200ml bottle: pours a clear honey-amber ale in the glass with a 2 finger tight whight cap. Moderate carbonation. Aroma is bready, grassy with some fruitiness. Medium body, smooth mouth feel. Flavor is much like aroma big maltiness without sweetness perfect hop balance without excessive bittering, some fruit tones, clean semi-dry finish. A perfetly balanced and well attinuated brew - a really approachable IPA.

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

Ahh after a hard day of chasing dolphins, swabbing decks, and hoisting sails I can see how the traditional India style ale had become a favorite with the English sailing set of the 19th century. Just enough bitterness to make the beverage have some bite, but still with a delicate sweetness that says "I'll have another". The beverage is not as dynamic as "today's" IPA's but it makes for a great everyday afterwork brew.

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

Appealing clear amber pour with a thinnish white head and ample lacing. Nice carbonation. Grapefruit and light pine in the early aroma followed by caramel malts and some fruit. Taste is clean, fruity and lightly sweet with a grapefruit and pine hops bitter that lingers nicely. This is a very good representation of a true English IPA. Very pleasant and satisfying.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 10

Hate to say it, popped the bottle, first wiff, puke. Literally, a whole night of West Coast IPA chugging puke. Poured out now, interesting colour, it can't seem to decide if it is a diluted yellow orange or brown. I still am getting a weird aroma, very unique and distinct, am searching for the right words. Lets do some high school poetry class free writing: bitter, like oranges, but more like moss, if moss was bitter, like under a tree, maybe a bit of pee on it, or dried up beer sludge that you find in a beer glass the following day, new thought, lemon, and zubowvka (bison grass vodka), i think it is the yeast, something funky, crazy fruity going on that is unlike any hop ive tasted before... just plain wierd. After all that you might think I think its crap. Not true, it is very unique and special, decidedly eccentric and british, yet stangely bitter and complex. Not a session beer at all, which is good, as so many brit and brit style beers seem to love that "session" characteristic. I havent even considered the malts yet, they are there, biscuit, dry, mouthfeel medium to thin, but it suits the beer. Perfect carbonation. Bit of dark rye or sourdough as it warms, also seems to get a bit of cerry/tartness going on with warmth. Wow.