Charlottesville Area Masters of Real Ale

Spidey generously provided me with one of his brews as part of a casual barter for some keg components.

His IPA was delivered in a bottle. He explained that the bottle had been filled from a keg.  I don't know how he did it, but it worked great for the short term.  (please share the technique!)  I let it get good and cold in the beer fridge for an hour or so after the meeting.

My first impression of a beer is generally the aroma.  This beer provided a delicious full hop aroma bursting with Centennial character.  I smelled the beer several times throughout the tasting process, because I love the smell of hops.  I'm by no means a tasting expert, but I would call the aroma "spicy, floral, mildly citrus with hints of grapefruit".

The beer is quite clear with a bright gold hue.  Despite having been transfered to a keg into a bottle, there was good carbonation and a full, if not thick, head of tiny bubbles.   The lacing on the glass was great.

My initial impression of the flavor was an unobtrusive, well-balanced beer.  It is neither too bitter nor too sweet.  The hops are evident, but mostly prominently in the aroma, rather than in bitterness.  The malt is very clean, a little like a gently toasted white bread.  The malt character becomes more evident as the beer warms and is exposed to oxygen (I consumed it over the better part of an hour).  My initial sip contained a mild flavor of soap on the aftertaste.  The appearance of the soap flavor was discussed at the Nov 2008 meeting, and apparently derives from dry hopping (I've never tried dry hopping).  Subsequent tastes did not reveal the re-emergence of the soapy flavor.  To provide perspective, I expected some bitterness, and a strong malt backbone, because that's how I would make an IPA (whether that's stylistically correct is of no importance to me -- it's about flavor, food and brewing what you want to drink).

I drank the latter half of the pint while munching on some hearty whole grain bread, some hard Unikaas smoked gouda (the only gouda I like), some tomato slices and some garlic hummus.  The beer goes well with food.  I expect that it would provide good contrast to foods with warm flavors, but not highly spicy dishes.

Spidey's Centennial IPA is a very clean, drinkable beer with a great aroma.  I would gladly consume another!

I would add that my impressions were similar to Hoptical's.  I did not sample the beer in front of my computer, like I usually do, so I can type as I taste, but Hoptical summed it up nicely.  The beer had a very nice centennial aroma to it, which I imagine comes from the dry hopping.  The smell was great, but dissapated relatively quickly after the bottle was opened. 

I remember the beer being very clear, which I have read is a real problem with IPAs.  The extra hopping that goes into that style, along with the dry hopping, can often leave a hazy, but Spidey's beer was clear and looked great.

I also got a mild soapy flavor with the first couple of sips of the beer, however, I did not remember it persisting through the glass.

Sorry for the scattered nature of this review, but it is based on my memory, rather than active tasting.

Thanks for sharing, Spidey.

Thanks for the reviews guys.  For a little perspective from the brewer's standpoint, I was going for something along the lines of Stone Ruination IPA, but a little more drinkable.  Lightish color, biggish hop bitterness and aroma, but refreshing and something that I could easily consume several glasses of on Sundays while I'm watching football.  My homebrew is an extract brew with steeped grains, as per my usual.  I used William's American pale malt LME for it.  I used to use Alexander's LME for everything, but then prices on it went up and I heard about William's so I switched over.  I used to get crystal clear beers with the Alexander's. Unfortunately however, I've never been able to achieve quite the same clarity with William's due to some mild chill haze that I just can't get rid of.  Nonetheless, clarity isn't bad and the taste from the William's has been equally as good as the Alexander's.  Anyway, moving on... Centennial hops were used for everything in this IPA: bittering, finishing, and dry-hopping. I didn't add flavor hops because I knew I'd get plenty out of the dry hopping.  Nice pickup on the soapy flavor; not everyone notices it.  It is still there, but it has faded dramatically since I first kegged it. I expect the last glass out of the keg will be perfect, and of course then it will all be gone.  I'm glad this method of bottling worked so that I can share more beers in bottles-to-go with the club members in the future.

I checked out Spidey’s Centennial IPA right after the meeting, too, and I apologize in being so late in chiming in.

My notes are long gone, but I was amazed at how well balanced this beer was.  The centennial hops shine through on the aroma with a good bit of citrus, but the floral qualities were subdued.  The head was full and gave a slight lacing as I drank it.  (Good job on whatever voodoo you did to get this into the bottle).

The color and clarity of your beer is surprising.  I was expecting something much darker and this had the clearness of a Harpoon IPA.  Impressive.

The flavor of this beer was its strength.  I was initially disappointed that the centennial hops weren’t as forward as I was expecting in the taste.  But I got over that very quickly as the malt came through quite nicely.   The hops were there, but they shared the stage with malt that was nicely balanced and slightly nutty and bready.  An achievement whether you are all grain or extract.

This is a very well balanced beer, and I think that is the best compliment I can offer any beer.  Honestly, this tasted a bit more like a pale ale than an IPA, but that is not a slight.  Too often IPAs are over the top (I’m certainly guilty of that), don’t have enough of a malt backbone and aren’t able to be the drink of choice for an entire night.  This was smooth, slightly understated and something that I’d reach for again and again.

Great job Spidey, and I appreciate the sharing.

Jamey

BTW – Where did you get bottle caps lined with cork?  HA!  I’ve never seen anything like that.