Owen's IPA
BJ's Restaurants & Brewery

 

 

 

Tap at La Jolla. I must have had a different batch than some of the more recent raters. Pours clear gold with a short white head. Crisp aroma of piney hops, white pepper, and grass. Watery mouthfeel. Hoppy taste throughout, but it tastes like the hops weren't ripe or the wrong blend was used. Wood, leaves, and a sterile, medicinal finish. Blah.

5 oz draft on 10/22/07 at BJ's Woodland Hills.

Deep clear gold with proud white head. Aromas of malt and piny and citrus hops. Flavor was unexpectedly malty caramel and hints of wood, which quickly segued into the expected citrus hops and bitterness. Well balanced, a bit sweeter than a typical IPA. Lingering, modest bitterness and astringency.

I was pleasently surprised by this beer and would certainly drink it again.

Five ounce taster last night at the San Bernardino location for $1.50, went great with the deep dish pizza

A-Golden orange, small 1/2 inch white soapy head, nice retention, decent lacing as well

S-Piney hops, variety of citrus, some sweet malts, some vanilla, grassy accents, and oak

T-Pine hoppiness at the beginning, fades into grpaefruit, tangerines, and lemons, dry finish with more hops, as it warms some malt balances out the bitterness, lots of woody flavors, overpowering dryness at times but still an above average India pale ale overall

M-Bitter and dry mouthfeel, medium body, lots of caronation, long lingering taste

D-Smooth and easy to drink, light on the stomach, low ABV, could drink a couple pints

Had seen this seasonal last time I was here and I regretted not trying it then, bartender told me it was around five to six percent alcohol, not bad tasting for a BJs brew, too bad this is not year round, would drink again if I saw it there, recommended

On tap at BJ's Palmdale CA, Sampled July 2007
Pours with a frothy, scant quarter-finger thick, light tan colored head that sits atop a lightly hazy, copper colored brew. The aroma has a nice hoppiness to it that initially is made up herbal & pine notes. Aromatic notes of grapefruit and orange peel become noticeable quite quickly and in fact become the most noticeable note after a bit of time. As the beer warms a bit, dry, biscuit like notes and soda cracker aromatics become noticeable.

Dry tasting up front, but it has enough malt sweetness to accentuate a solid hop-citrus flavor made up of orange-peel, tangelo, grapefruit and tangelo. This beer has a big hop presence that is also made up of a crisp, biting bitterness that takes on a touch of herbaceous astringency as it moves through to the finish. The beer is served a bit too cool (a chronic problem at every BJ's I have been too), but this accentuates the crisp, almost menthol like bitterness. The citrus hop character actually makes this beer finish a touch sweet, actually the citrus notes provide a fruit-character that accentuates the bit of malt sweetness. I really like how drinkable this brew is; it is light and quaffable as long as you can handle a beer that is clearly over hopped.

This is a nice IPA, it is certainly hop focused, but has just enough malt to accentuate and carry the hop flavors.

On tap at the Rancho Cucamonga, CA location.

This was a better than average IPA. I had just finished a pint of their pale ale which I love, and think that could qualify as an IPA in its own right. But the Owens IPA pours a semi cloudy orange with a piney and floral nose. It leaves great lacing on the side of the glass. The taste is a lot of pine and citrus. This IPA is all about the hops. The pale ale is actually similar in that respect although they give the IPA a greater bitterness and a lot more of a resiny hop flavor remains in the latter half of the sip. The mouthfeel is light with some slickness to it.

Had this on tap at the BJ's in Long Beach, Ca, their special beer at the time. Poured a golden amber but as is typical for BJs, head was poured off with beer right to the top of a standard pint glass. Some lacing and almost no effervescence. Aroma was mildly citrusy. Flavor was mildly of hops but not at all aggressive, I would consider this more of a slighly hoppy amber ale as opposed to an IPA, drinkable but nothing to go out of the way for.

This is one of the special beers at the BJ's I go to.

I was a little disappointed that the beer did not have much of a head, but other tham that the color was a nice amber color. Just what you would expect for your run of the mill IPA.

The was not a very strong scent to this beer, you could smell the hops, but it lacked the nice floral aroma you get from a really good IPA.

The taste was good, a nice hop flavor right off the bat. A pleasantly light malty flavor with a bitter back end and after taste.

Not the best IPA I've every had, but a very good one from such a commercial place. If it's on tap at your local BJ's give it a try, it's worth the money.

What an IPA should be! BJ’s has a "regular" (?) IPA, but they shouldn’t call it an IPA. This is good. Hoppy,great aroma, great taste. This isn't always available, and it seems to vary a bit. But I'll take that anytime over any mass produced beer.
Very good this time

This arrived wearing a light combination of orange and brown. The head is relatively small but lasted well, and left a nice amount of lace.

There's a good amount of hops in this one. They completely dominate the smell. They're also immediately apparent in the taste, with some malt coming through as well. Hops take over the finish. The pine character is a bit much. Still, the taste is pretty decent, and the mouthfeel is pleasing.

I prefer this over their Piranha Pale.

In the past this brew hasn't rated very well...but I'm guessing it has gone through a reformulation as of lare.

Upon delivery of the pint, one has a hard time ignoring rocky tan foam sitting atop this burnt orange brew. The nose is all hops...and plenty of different ones, too. The aroma is piney and citrusy with a background sweetness that is signature BJ's malt blend.

First taste is a cheek-puckering attack of killer hops. Subsequent tasting results in the appreciation of supportive carbonation as well as the depth of the malt character. The finish lingers of evergreen hoppiness (as most West Coast IPA's seem to do).

This brew is much better than I remember from '03. Gone are the underbalanced and belligerent hop characteristics as they have been replaced by a lighter, brighter, and more palatable offering.

Sampled (5oz.) at BJ's Brewhouse in Arcadia, CA.
Has a clear, amber tint with a thin white cap for a head and a sticky web of lace.
Mellow aromas of citrus hops and sweet maltiness. Not as potent a smell as I was expecting.
Taste was, well, unusual. This is the first IPA I've tried that had a smoky taste to it. Started off with a sweet malt flavor which was slowly pushed aside by a grapefruit/citrus rind hops bitterness. Finished with a smokiness that masked the bitter hops.
Feel was full, smooth, and dry.
A decent, albeit quirky, IPA. Still, not one I'd come back to anytime soon.

Ok.. a little history. I like oak in my beers. I brew beers with oak. Oak is a good subtle character when used right.

Owen's IPA is an example of oak used wrong. Here the beer is all about the oak and nothing about the beer.

The beer starts off with a nose that is a mingling of hops and sweet vanilla and spicy wood from the oak. The beer is cloudy with hop haze, which gives and indication of how much the oak softens the hop character.

Now here's where get to the problem with the beer. Every sip is filled with the sharp drying spike of tannin. This beer has more tannin than your average Cabernet. This is definately due to the treatment of the beer in the brew. Namely, they boil the oak which leads to the tannin overload.

In my book, this beer is a rare miss for an otherwise steady brewery.

I ordered a Pint of this Rotating Offering at BJ's Brewpub in Oxnard California. When it got to the table, the first thing i noticed was the color. It was a cloudy dull straw/copper color that exhibited a strange but atractive ruby hue in the thickest part of the beverage when held to the light.

There wasn't much head to it, but a sticky ring around the glass and a 75 percent covering of pale lace covering the surface of the beverage.

I was really dissapointed when i took my first whiff. Although there was a distinct hop and malt smell present, it wasn't hardly bold enough, infact it was amazingly low. I kept giving it second and third chances as a drained the glass. The smell just wasnt there.

The taste was good. It had a malty sweetness that balanced the bitterness of the hops. This good balance helped in the mouthfeel catagory and deffinatly in the drinkablity.

Overall, the beer went well with dinner, but if i would have had time for another drink, i think i would have tried something else.