Dead Horse IPA
McNeill's Brewery

Based on notes from 2011. Had this on draft.
A: pours an amber body with white head with nice retention and lacing
S: grapefruit and subtle sweet malt smell
T: subtle burnt toffee taste with some subtle grapefruit notes and warming alcohol; warming alcohol aftertaste
M: medium bodied and fairly smooth
D: nice mouthfeel and taste combo; pretty solid drinking beer overall

This was poured into a nonic pint glass. The appearance was a hazy glossed over orange color with a slim one finger white foamy head that dissipated decently in a nice way. Lacing was decently stringy and messy. The smell started off with a decent earthy to semi-grassy sweet hops running into a sly caramel backbone. The taste pretty much copied the smell and had a decent sweet malty backbone leading to the semi-earthy and becoming slightly citrus (and English-esque) in the aftertaste and finish. On the palate, this one sat about a light to medium on the body with a decent sessionability about it. Carbonation is sly and carries the harshness just enough but stays back to allow the bitterness to take the lead. Overall, good as an English IPA, is that what its supposed to be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

L: Pours hazy amber with a slight amber tint under a 1” off-white foam collar that hugs the side of the glass.
S: Bread, caramel and fruit in the aroma with citrusy hops.
T: Biscuit with a little caramel finishes dry with a slight astringency and some earthy, spicy bitter and a slight dose of pepper.
F: Medium body and carbonation.
O: A full flavored English Indian Pale Ale.

 

An under-rated IPA, for sure. Tasted from a can.

This is complex, uniquely-flavored with great bod and maltiness (McNeill's beers are just great like this). If you are into IPA for the hops alone, you won't understand. As a home brewer, I really appreciate this beer.

With all the hype over some very hard to get VT beers, this brewery, which is more available across VT, is producing amazing beer. For example, compared to the Fiddlehead IPA, this one is on a different level. YMMV.

 

served from the cask at the brewery. amber colored, clear, white head. mild pleasant earthy hop aroma. taste is well balanced, overall a nice body and feel

 

Was not impressed with this ipa. No info on can.. No date, abv, or ibu. I think I bought a old can. Info on the can helps.

You know The Bros' Rankings are sometimes quite high on beers that don't overwhelm the denizens of BA. However, I think that they just nail a lot of them. They are not afraid to give high marks to stuff that is (in my experience) just plain good, without the hype. I'm in no way saying that all of BA is a bunch of hype helpers, but this is one case where it's like, wow, this is a really unique beer for many reasons and the Bros score is right in line with mine. Though, mine of course, is just an opinion and I will say that there are many , man, many more qualified raters than I. However, it's really all opinion in a sense. Blathering, but just loved this and like a very adept review that is below mine, was blown away by the beer after I had seen such mediocre ratings. Sometimes you wonder how much thought is being out into the ratings. It's always like there is this regression to the mediocre mean...how many beers rank from 81-86...a huge majority I would believe. And many of us call this mediocre...well in this case you're missing out if you don't try it. Besides, it's got a dead horse on the bottle...what better to do than beat it, which is what I seem to be doing.

I didn't expect that much, as this is not a particularly famous beer and the "BA Score" is rather low. I was pleasently suprised by the strong malt and delicious hops of this English Style IPA. Very clean profile, very different than most IPA's now a days. Do yourself a favor and try it.