Melonhead IPA
Alpine Beer Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gold color with a packed pillowy off white head.

Grassy, grapefruit, and slight melon (maybe cantaloupe) aroma. Cantaloupe follows into the flavor but isn't very prominent. This is just more grassy/floral and grapefruit-like than anything. Bitter on the finish but not tongue ripping. Similar to grapefruit pith.

Toasty, bready, light cracker-like malt profile. Not much sweetness. Dry finish. Light mouthfeel. Decent beer but this hop isn't something I'd solo in a beer. The description is a little misleading too. I'm not getting anywhere near the amount of melon I expected.

Cask

O'Brien's Pub
San Diego, CA

Hazed, burnished, golden yellow with a frothy, big-bubbled off-white foam head that leaves the glass coated and messy with sticky splotches and spiderwebs of lace.

The aroma is quite unique, and definitely the best aspect of this beer. The hops are vibrant, though not tropical or citrusy, like many Aline beers seem to be. The hops here are very floral and yes, a lot like melon--honeydew and cantaloupe to be particular.

The flavor too is quite floral and has definite melon qualities, especially at the colder temperature. As this warms to complete room temperature, the onion/earthy qualities dominate the sweeter floral and melon elements, unfortunately.

Medium bodied, creamy.

An interesting melon/floral IPA, though disappointing only because of the other world-class IPAs Alpine produces. I'd much rather drink Duet, Pure, or Nelson before ordering another Melonhead.

Went to the Expo release expecting a nice growler. They sold out while I was in line! ARGH. My only recourse was to get the Melonhead.

A - Pours very clear, light copper, small head, thin micro layer over beer. You can see the effervescent bubbles tumbling upwards. Small sudsy lace.

S - Hoppy! Floral hops with a candy flavoring fruit nuzzling up with it.

T - Yeah, melon, fruit candy and bitter, bitter hops. A very interesting combination.

M - Light bodied, still well carbonated after sitting in the fridge for 4-5 days. Medium bodied with a coating and viscosity more than I expected around the back of my tongue top. Strange twist of flavors, the bitter finish is still mixing with the candy flavor fruit. Good , but could get tiring.

D - Pretty interesting and glad to have tried it. Will try again.

Chilled growler into a glass, courtesy of Sideswipe. Thanks, John!

A: Pours a clear, goldenrod body with a steady stream of bubbles up the glass. My pour produces a finger of nice-lived off-white head that leaves huge register marks down the sides of the glass.

S: I opened the growler at a tasting, and everyone remarked at how un-aromatic the beer was. I put the second half back in the fridge and finished it the next day, when it turned out to be more expressive in the nose. It has a tropical fruit presence that emits, among other things, elements of honeydew and cantaloupe. Nice sugar malt character with some pine backing it up.

T: This is very sensitive to temperature; on both days, it needed some warming up to come out. It has a nice cantaloupe flavor and a light backing of pine bitterness. Malt doesn't seem to be very defined other than a light, crackery sugarness.

M: Light-medium bodied. It falls off in the finish pretty quickly. It's dry and clean, with just a little lingering bitterness.

O: The first half of the growler (on the first day) was unspectacular, but I guess it opened up overnight. I'm more impressed with the second half. I still think Alpine's other beers blow this out of the water, but it's fairly good.

On tap at Alpine during 01/27 EH Release. Tulip glass.

A: Pours clear pale golden, with a few centimeters of snow white foam. Good retention and some nice sticky lacing.

S: Whoa, watermelon. Familiar Alpine citrus and pine mix. Overall, the smell is pretty faint, unfortunately.

T: Definitely getting melon, but more like honeydew or cantaloupe than watermelon. Citrus (tangerine), pine and spice, and a mild to moderate bitter pine finish.

M: Medium body and medium-light carbonation.

O: The melon flavor is really, really interesting, and I think it holds great promise. But I don't think they've nailed it yet. Nelson and Duet are far better options.

Thanks to ArthurPendragon for this one. Served in a Surly pint glass.

A - A giant creamy foam rises up and eventually settles to a thick cap, leaving splotchy lace all over the place. Transparent golden body with a few slow-moving bubbles present.

S - It's a West Coast IPA alright. Big tropical fruit presence, with some pine, and perhaps a touch of cat pee and onion. I don't think I would say watermelon, but there's a cantaloupe & honeydew presence among the tropical fruit bouquet. A mild amount of sugar cookie malt rounds things out.

T - Initially the flavor is a bit understated, although when it warms up there's definitely an under-ripe cantaloupe flesh flavor that grows along with some moderate bitterness. There's some pine and chive flavors in the periphery as well. Malt character is slightly crackery, with a touch of sugar to it.

M - Medium body, soft moderate-to-low carbonation, some definite oily and resinous residual hop character. Dry texture and quite crisp and clean. No alcohol presence at all

D - Not Alpine's best offering, but eminently easy to drink. Mike and I crushed a growler with ease and I'd certainly order this if I saw it on draft somewhere. A bit more oomph in the flavor department would elevate this to the next tier, and I'm probably being too hard on it - that's the problem when your brewery already puts out a whole stable full of high-quality IPAs.

A - An orange beer with a huge foam head that popped up. Probably a little too big, although i think that could have been mitigated by using a wider glass. Tons of sheets, lacing, and stick left on the sides of the glass.

S - There is a tropical fruit note to this right off the bat. It turns into some resinous pine on the back end. Fairly crisp malt profile. I think there might be some sort of melon in there, it's something sweet, but it might just be me trying to smell melon as well.

T - The taste of this beer is good, but nothing super exciting. There are sweet malts and tropical fruit hops notes on the front, and a fade to resin and pine on the back just like the nose. There is some faint melon, possibly cantaloupe that comes up as it warms, but if no one had said melon I don't think I would have picked it out.

M - Medium bodied, pretty crisp, active carbonation.

O - A good beer. Not one of Alpine's best, but still a great IPA. MasterSki and I drank the growler easily between the two of us.

was very excited to try this beer, was a new one for me.
A = beatufil beer, nice 1 inch head, with perfect lacing the whole drink. Sad to say, the best part of this beer.
S = almost nothing, which is very disapointing in an IPA
T - very muted, not much kick or punch that I was looking for.
M = easy to drink, was diving back in trying to find something worth writing about.
Sad to say that the appearance is the best thing, not much else to say.

 

 

A: Clear orange-gold body. Moderate sized white head, good retention, decent lacing.

S: Yup, watermelon is there. Also get some grapefruit, a bit of resinous notes ,a vegetal component as well, and perhaps a dash of Simcoe-like "cat piss."

T: Nice balance between fruity notes (watermelon and grapefruit mostly) and a bitter, resinous character. Quite tasty and unique!

M: Spot on. Medium bodied, assertive carbonation, aggressive bitterness, clean and crisp finish, and interesting to the palate.

O: An interesting, and ultimately successful single-hop IPA. While it's not my favorite of the Alpine offerings, I'd certainly love to see this hop used again (as Melonhead) or combined with something like citra.