Halestorm
Hale's Ales Brewery & Pub

To enjoy: Drink this one quick and cold.

 

 

 

Handsome yellow brew with plenty of foam in the Maredsous goblet. Pleasant melon aroma. Apricot and tangy fruit flavors. Rather sweet and intense at first sip. Mellow, malty, and rich.

Woody and grainy. A little hot. But that malty and melon flavor comes through with a surprising delight. There are more sophisticated and aromatic big IPAs but this is quite satisfying. From the 22 oz bottle purchased at Central Market in Shoreline.

 

22 oz bottle. Bottling date; 01/20/20/16 (today is 3/20/16)

Pours a slightly hazy golden yellow body with a white head. Lots of thick lacing. Some retention.

Very prominent grapefruit citrus at first pour with a little pine. The strange thing here is that halfway through my first glass this went away and was replaced with a malt/yeast bread-applesauce scent. It became much more malt forward. Interesting...

Taste is very much a combination of these two scents. There isn't a big hop bite, just a mild bitterness in the aftertaste...

Slightly watery feel seems under-carbonated

Overall: It was an interesting balance that smelled hoppy then became much more malt forward. This isn't a typical northwest double IPA (unless it's 1998)

 

 

rb

Picked up at the Boise COOP tonight.. Paid a pretty decent $5... Poured into my pumpkin goblet.. 1" tannish head shows nice retention and lacing atop a slightly hazed orange brew.

The nose is weird... I know it is fresh, but it doesn't smell like a "modern" PNW DIPA ... There is plenty of pale maltiness that mutes the pithy citrus hops... Nothing wrong with it, just too malty for a '15 DIPA.

Flavor shows balanced bitterness that doesn't quite hold hop flavor long enough.. a malty smack comes in mid-palate and blows out the bitterness and leaves behind only a lingering grapefruity hop finish.

Palate is pretty heavy given the lower ABV (for a DIPA).. too much residual sweetness by a long shot.

I seriously would have LOVED this 7-8 years ago.. But now, I doubt I will buy it again. Palates change and regionally (especially in the PNW) big hoppy beers should be much drier and allow the hop nuances to really bloom and move forward and not be slowed down by the thick maltiness.

I feel like an asshole about my above comments.. but I am drinking it and enjoying it and just trying to document it.

4/3.5/3.5/3.5/3.5

Poured from a bomber into a chalise. Nice thick creamy head with very little lacing. Aroma is a real nice pineapple with a bit of wet pine. Taste is a rather weak grassy taste with a mild citrus, but very little hoppy bite. I have had numerous pale ales that exceed this in hoppy bitterness. Mouthfeel is flat and weak. Overall it is a good beer but with so many great DIPAs out of Seattle, why would you choose this one. Pedestrian at best.