Islander Pale Ale (Dry-Hopped)
Maritime Pacific Brewing Company

Beer Geek Stats
From:
Maritime Pacific Brewing Company
 
Washington, United States
Style:
American Pale Ale
ABV:
6%
Score:
+8 ratings needed
Avg:
3.98 | pDev: 12.06%
Ratings:
2 | reviews: 1
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Jan 22, 2012
Added:
Dec 28, 2004
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  0
Dry hopped with Cascade
Recent ratings and reviews.
 
Rated: 3.5 by DrNo from Australia

Jan 22, 2012
Photo of RoyalT
Reviewed by RoyalT from Michigan

4.47/5  rDev +12.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Appearance – This one is a thick, hazy deep orange in color that promises a big malt balance. The head came up modestly from the growler pour but showed excellent retention and left some cool-looking pits on top of the liquid.

Smell – The hops here are very deep. They are not superficial like a lot of dry-hopped beers. That is to say, big hop nose with the promise of a no-hop taste. They are very bitter and citrusy. There’s some pine resin as well. All of this is draped over a toasted, caramel-laden backbone that is huge for a PacNW Pale Ale.

Taste – This is much bigger at the taste. It is extremely bitter in a leafy kind of way and has a monster malt balance. The malts are thick and drenched in toffee and caramel.

Mouthfeel – This one is working towards full-bodied, believe it or not, and has a very sharp bitter finish in back of the tongue. It has a thick and chewy consistency and feels great in between the cheeks.

This actually reminds me of some giant Double IPAs in the mouth like Whoop Ass and Ruination. It’s not quite as big as those guys but is from the same mold. It’s much bigger than Maritime Pacific IPA, ironically.

Drinkability – This is a real mouthful. It’s funny, because when I tasted an ounce of it at the Jolly Roger I almost didn’t growler up. The single-hopped version seemed much hoppier, at least in the nose. Three days later out of a growler though this is a monster.

Comments – This really tastes and feels like a thickly-balanced IPA, so much so that I had to call the brewery back just to confirm what I was drinking. It’s as big a Pale Ale that you will find in Seattle, that’s for sure.

Update – My wonderful friend and great humanitarian skyhand dropped off a growler of this on her way to band practice (no, she doesn’t play the f**in’ clarinet – she’s a drummer) and it was killer. This 2005 batch was just as tasty as the ’04. It was a bit lighter in the body this time around (I’d call it ‘medium-bodied’ at this point) but incredibly smooth and extremely hoppy. Nice . . .
Dec 28, 2004