Strictly Simcoe
From The Barrel Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the 650 ml. bottle. Sampled on March 14, 2015

The pour is golden-amber with a huge, foamy white head.

The aroma emits a bit of the toasted pale malts but the floral, citrus hop character tends to take things over. Not an IPA but almost smells like one. Clean though.

Light to medium body.

The flavor is more like a hopped pale ale, which is a good thing. The toasted biscuit is there and the floral hops are strong and bitter but the underlying taste falls on malts. Sessionable.

 

 

 

 

 

It pours a light amber with a big, white fluffy head that lingers. Medium carbonation runs up the center of the snifter. The nose is definitely simcoe. I get a light berry smell that I can't quite put my finger on with a hint of dankness. A little subdued but still smells nice. The flavor follows the nose but I think this bottle is a little oxidated. There is a cardboard-like finish to the beer. The feel is nice for a pale with a nice lingering bitterness that isn't too assertive. Medium carb and medium bodied. On the medium side of thin.

With a stronger nose and a non-oxidized finish, this would be excellent. As is, I think its only good.

Growler filled on Friday. Shared with rudzud.

Decent creamy 1/2 finger head fades semi slowly with nice lacing, hazy amber honey orange reddish hue. 4.25

Nose decent musty aroma, dank fresh hop oil, faint citrusy grapefruit pith, bit fruity and even slight grassy spicy, faint sweet malty balance. 4.5

Taste starts a touch sweety with grainy malt and little reddish caramel malt. Then quickly hops, again musty and resinous, juicy fruity hops, faint citrusy grapefruit, little pith and rind. Juicy fruity bubblegum notes. Finish Dries and gets very bitter, big spicy chewy hop bitterness, little more pith and rind, big spicy rind. 4.25

Mouth is med bod, decent carb for growler, nice crisp feel. 4.25

Overall quite nice, showcases the simcoe well, nice balance, juicy, etc. 4.25

Thanks to JLindros for sharing this growler

A - Poured into a Kate the Great tulip a nice hazy copper hue with a good one finger white head that fades to leave a thin light blanket with little side lacing. 4 (x .05 = .2)

S - Aromas of beautiful bright simcoe, very wet pine, light citrus, maybe some melon. Light malts to balance, super aromatic. 4.5 (x .2 = .9)

T - Taste is similar to the nose, but not quite as bright. Still delicious, nice lightly grassy bitter pine and faint faint citrus pith. Nice lightly sweet malts, finish is very bitter shockingly so for being a 5.5% ipa! 4.25 (x .45 = 1.913)

M - Mouthfeel is nice and clean and crisp, very drinkable and incredibly bitter. 4.25 (x .1 = .425)

O - Overall this beer was a really nice representation of a single hop ipa. Bitterness is awesome. Could use a bit more pop on the taste but yeah, pretty darn good! 4.25 (x .2 = .85)

Total Rating Score: 4.29
Serving Type: Growler

Bottle from Bert's
Pours a pale golden color with a huge bubbly beige head that persists forever. Dank resinous with a hint of onion and tannin. Bready malt aroma? Maybe? The flavor does indeed contain a bit of sweet bready malt with plenty of juicy dank resin. Smooth but firm bitterness. Light to medium body moderate carbonation. Pretty simple straight forward easy drinking mother truckin flavorful ale.