Old School
Ale-Mania

Pours a cloudy, dark, reddish amber coloration with a large, creamy head. Smells of bready, caramel malt and resinous, citrus hops, with notes of grapefruit and pine. Taste is an excellent balance of bready, caramel malt and bitter, resinous, slightly fruity. spicy and herbal hops, with citrus notes of grapefruit and distinct resinous pine, as well as just a hint of peppery spice, licorice and herbal accents. Finishes with a medium/strong bitterness and some grapefruit, pine and black pepper lingering in the aftertaste. Smooth mouthfeel with a medium body and carbonation.

This makes for a terrific East Coast IPA with a very solid, sweet'ish caramel malt backbone balanced very nicely against some bitter, quite resinous hops with some great herbal and spicy accents that provide a bit of a certain edge to this in addition to the resinous bitterness. While it could still be a bit more bitter for my personal taste, those resinous, spicy hops really shine here, making for a very enjoyable and indeed rather old school flavor profile in combination with the sweet'ish caramel malts. Overall, this beer is not called Old School for nothing and really captures the spirit of those, unfortunately long gone IPAs of yore. I really wish more German breweries would be making beers like this, I could drink this all day. I'm also absolutely loving the label art here, great Simpsons reference poking fun at those hazy IPAs.