Newport Storm - Isabel (Cyclone Series)
Newport Craft Brewing & Distilling Co.

 

 

 

 

Review from BeerAdvocate magazine Vol. III Issue I:

To clear the confusion, the "India" tag seems to be used as a sign of strength similar to "Double" or "Imperial" and is derived from "India Pale Ale." So now brewers are trying to come up with their own styles by using "India" to differentiate from the norm. Go figure.

Great foam retention, healthy amount of lacing on the glass. Hazy, orangey-amber color. Hop aroma of grapefruit rind, pine sap and hemp seed oil. Some fruitiness and light caramel malt on the tip of the nose as well. All around good smoothness with a creamy full body. While the bitterness may try and take control up front, the maltiness lays a solid foundation with some structure of caramel and toasted bread. Let's not forget the alcohol presence as it drops down a quick fruitiness and some warmth. Finishes bittersweet, with the hops leaving a long trail of flavor for the taste buds to deal with.

Easy drinking for a big beer, as it shows some balance. A worthy pick. Why can't we just call this an "American Strong Ale"?

Appearance: Pours a clear amber color with a sturdy head of foam; decent stickage and some shards of lace

Smell: With the age that is on this one, the caramel malt dominates the aroma, though some piney hops linger in the background

Taste: Boatloads of caramel, up front, with the piney hops making a welcome appearance by mid-palate; after the swallow, the bitterness notches up a level and serves as an effective foil to the caramel; nice stone fruit elements interplay, as well

Mouthfeel: Medium to full body with moderate carbonation

Drinkability: This one has held together surprisingly well, and is a nicely balanced drinker

Bottle: Poured a deep cloudy amber color ale with a quite large foamy head with good retention and minimal lacing. Aroma of grassy bitter hops with deep malt backbone. Taste is a balanced mix between some grassy hops with some clear bitter notes and a huge malt backbone that is quite dry. Body is full with minimal filtration and good carbonation with no signs of the alcohol. Very well done and definitely better then expected.

This is a 12oz Isabel, poured into a snifter. Basically reminds me of a double hurricane amber ale.

A- Poured amber, active head that dissipates rather quickly.

S- Roasted malt sweetness. Caramel noted. A bit of peppery spice.

T- Clean, crisp, full-flavored. A great beer. Follows the nose, and had enough depth without getting out of hand. Very specific flavor profile executed very well. Hops are there to balance the malts and do a fantastic job of finishing the beer.

M- crisp, clean, flavorful, nothing out of place.

D- WOW! 9%?!?! Great job, guys. You fooled me on this one. Amazing brew. Too bad it's not coming back.

Picked up a single bottle at Nikki's Liquor in RI. I love it when breweries go through the trouble to include "freshest before date notched" on their labels and don't bother notching them out. That's fuckin' awesome when that happens.

Poured into my nonic pint glass a hazy golden amber color with about two fingers of off-white head. Smells of piney, grassy hops and toasted malt. Tastes of sweet caramel malts, pineapple, and apricot. Finish is mildly bitter with an alcohol burn on the back of the tongue. Medium in both body and carbonation. A nice sipper that's worth a try if you come across it.

Nice fresh hop piney and biscuity nose. nice head that disipates quickly leaving very nice lacing down the glass. Alchohol is very present in taste that is quite hoppy and a bit malty sweet on the other side. mouth fell is nice and full with tight carbonation. a bit heavy so not a real session brew but tasty if you are into ipa's.

Believe it or not, my first beer from Rhode Island. I was shocked as well, but it you are gonna go, go big! Served at cellar temp and poured into an oversized wine glass, this one was consumed on 1/12/2009.

The pour was very nice. Rich dark amber, cloudy as heck woth a small cap on top of white that slid down the sides and stayed on the top for waht seemed like fore ever.

Rich hop notes are the first thing I notice. Lots of caramel coming in through the back of this as well, very nicely balanced I have to say. Almost a candy like sweetness as I take the first sip. Rich with some light notes of alcohol that are peaking through and starting to show their colors. Some nice notes of apricot and light orange mixed in with some nice touches of grain. Nice syrup like feel on this one is just waht I was looking for in a big ale tonight .Smooth and a very nice sipper this went went down like candy and I easily could have looked for more!

Overall a very solid beer with which I really enjoyed. I would welcome anyone to send me the rest of this storm serious to get my taste buds working!

Poured from bottle into Pint glass. Thick and malty with only a trace of head. Deep hazy orange copper color. Light soft lacing.
Aroma is very sweet and malty, trace of piney hops, slight hint of yeast.
Drinks on the heavy side, very sweet caramel and toasted nut flavors over alcohol bite. Has a nice pine, slight citrus background, not quite as hoppy as I had hoped, but does fit the description of an extreme India Amber Ale.
Leaves a bitter-sweet nutty-pine aftertaste.
Good beer, but not one you want more than one (or two) of in a sitting.

Bottle shared by dkachur. Thanks, Dan!

A: Glowing amber with a nice, sparkly bubbles. A creamy coating over the glass walls.

S: The soft fruitiness... Almost like a cherry tree... The leafy-fruit blend, partly attributed to the hops.

T:Malty, slightly toffee like. Some fruit flavours, but nothing too big. & fairly solid beer.

M + D: Carbonation is milder, but medium bodied. Not too bad... An interesting beer, straight forward.

First beer of 2009.
On a late October trip to Rhode Island, we picked up three bottles of this release (the latest in the Cyclone Series) to take back to Oregon. 12 oz. bottle, poured to a pint glass. On the label, nothing is notched along the right hand side's "Freshest Before Date" indicator - it'll be fresh indefinitely!

9.0% ABV - 1.082 O.G. - 46 IBU
Labeled as an 'India Amber Ale'.

A: A strong pour fills the glass with an auburn warmth, a delicate haze of unfilteredness reduces the clarity only slightly. Few bubbles rise randomly, headed toward a finger's-worth of tightly-knit manila cream. Head drops over several minutes to a veil of bubbly froth surrounded by a satiny film that stretches to curtains of lace. Pretty beer.

S: Wafting aroma of caramel sweetness, juicy citrus (orange and some sweet lemon) and hints of tropical fruit, pound cake. Enough hops - a musty and grassy twang, herbal and green.

T: Loads of sticky malt, a boozy breadiness layered with spicy/zesty hops. Nuts and toffee and toasted breadcrust ebb and flow amidst spicy, almost peppery, hops and a pithy grapefruit zest. Bittering can seem a little chalky and medicinal with one sip, then vanishes/transforms to sweeter fruits and toasted grains with the next.

M: Pretty heavy, a coating/lip-smacking feel. Creamy texture, low carbonation, sides of tongue are warmed, fuzzy. A little curl from the bittering, which seems at times stronger than the 46 IBU advertised.

D: Lots of flavor; balance is a bit off-kilter, but it's still pretty drinkable. I'm glad to have another of these, as it's one I'd like to revisit in a few months. At the moment, a 3.5 seems about right. Worth a taste, a reasonably priced big beer (I think the singles I bought were $1.75 each).

An Amber colored beer with a slight haze. Has a small off white head that leaves a little bit of lace. The aroma is a wonderful bouquet of hops. First a solid grapefruit character. Followed by a nice piney note in the background. The tip of the tongue picks up a small sweet malty note. Which followed by a strong grapefruity hop note washing over the rest of the tongue. A slight caramel malt appears at the back of the throat just before the piney hop finish.

Abundant creamy head leaves plenty of thin lace strings, and the burnt reddish-orange reminds of a double IPA.

Aroma features lots of round, fat hops, again akin to a double IPA. Toffee and caramel come in big waves, while the 9% alcohol gives off fumes--a little too much, slightly dragging down the good stuff happening here.

There's plenty of depth to the flavor. Hops are firm and strong, leaning toward the citrus side, while the malt is gooey and sweet. Fruit succulence enters the picture too, recalling the juicy goodness of orange (probably the hops talking), pear and mango. The only thing holding this back from greatness is the alcohol. It's not insanely boozy, but a flash of aftershave on the breath detracts from the attractive flavors elsewhere, and it hangs around in the finish too.

Mouthfeel is both creamy and soft, caressing the tongue with a buttery smoothness and just enough carbonation. More creaminess and less attenuation would've really done the trick, but it's still nice.

Isabel is just shy of excellence, almost exclusively due to the unbalanced alcohol element. But there was plenty to enjoy and I'd probably go for it again, given the chance. Props to msubulldog25 for sending this my way. My first Rhode Island beer--it's a relief Coastal Extreme doesn't use some silly "small state, big beer!" slogan. Or, wait, maybe they should?

Thanks goes out to ybnorml for this brew.

Pours a very nice very slight hazy dark golden amber/brownish color, very nice carbonation, nice little creamy off-white head, with some nice small islands and sticky lacing left behind. The nose is malty, very slight toffee, with a nice note of spices. The taste is sweet, malty, slight toffee, and some spices. Medium body, the finish is sweet on the tongue. Drinkable, this is a very nice brew, glad to have had a chance to try it, thanks Wayne.

This beer pours a fairly cloudy mahogany orange color with a bubbly little head that retains a bit and laces. The aroma is liqueur like with lots of ABV presence, lots of biting hops, some raisiny notes, maybe some clove. The smell is quite pungent and a pretty good indication of what is to come.

The beer is strong, and doesn't hide its alcohol presence all that much. There is a good balance between some bittering hops and sweet malts. There are florals in this beer, some heavy fruit presence, and maybe some orange. This beer is just too strong for its own good. The consistency is quite full bodied, a bit syrupy in consistency, slightly carbonated, and did I mention strong. There is a slight throaty burn to this beer because of its ABV. If this were toned down a few notches, it would be more enticing for my tastes.

I was quite surprised to see this at my local beer store, as it seems kind of rare (only 5 other reviews on this site).

This is a damn good beer. Pours a cloudy brown/orange color with a thin wisp of a head. Smell is of faint hops, but it's all in the taste here, baby. Taste is all hops with the light alcohol warming at the end, but for 9% it's very well hidden. Reminds me of an American Barleywine more than the "India Amber Ale" it states on the bottle. I also agree that the 46 IBU's listed on the side of the bottle is a bit deceiving.. this is pretty hoppy and has a lot of bitterness to it. To sum it up, this is a great beer that I'm glad I got to try.

Pours a hazy amber color with a fluffy head. The lacing is amazing. The smell is strong with citrus hops and caramel malts. The flavor is well balanced with citrus, flowers and a medium malt backbone. The aftertaste is quite floral The mouthfeel is very good for the beer, and the drinkability is awesome with an all to well hidden 9%. This is the best beer I have had from costal extreme and it is unfortunate it is a one time brew.