Ace of Hearts
Hopworks Brewery

Poured from a 16 ounce can into a snifter.

Look- Brown, small particulate sediment, medium brown frothy head, above average lacing, average head retention.

Smell- Bready, piney, sweet.

Taste- Bready, piney, boozy, sweet.

Feel- Medium body, moderate bitterness, slightly below average carbonation, slightly astringent finish, slightly mouth warming.

Overall- Overwhelming malty as expected by the coloring.

Poured into a Seattle Beer Week pint glass. Pours a lightly hazy, medium to dark coppery amber with a fine, one finger off-white head with great retention and solid lacing. Aroma of pale and biscuit malt, citrus and tropical fruit hops, overripe stone and tropical fruit and a little dankness. Flavor is biscuit and pale malt, grassy, citrus and unidentifiable fruit hops, dry malt, dried fruit, vague dried stone and tropical fruit. Malty finish with moderate bitterness. Medium bodied with low to moderate creaminess. A quite different take on a big IPA. Very malty, almost English in character, as a matter of fact the base malt is similar to the malty (rather than fruit) style of English barleywine. Not as intense as that style, but with the same depth and complexity of malt. The hops are bit more muddled with citrus, some grassiness and dry fruit notes. Reminiscent in its malt profile to some of the pioneering early IPAs, but more robust. I remember what a revelation Hopworks' Ace of Spades was when it came out; it was one of those IPAs that sold out quickly and I remember chasing it around town to get a bottle. This isn't as exciting, but an interesting and pleasant IPA that reminds me to pay attention to Hopworks again. In the glass, this looks remarkable too.