Racer 5 India Pale Ale
A: I've had cask, on tap and from the bottle; neither tap nor bottle has a lot of head nor retains it for a particularly long time. That being said, what remains is off-white and laces quite well. Very bright copper color with some hop / yeast haze. S: Very strong West coast hops but a clean malt base does come through slightly. Citrus (grapefruit) dominates but there is a faint amount of pine. T: In my opinion, this is one of, if not the best American IPAs out there right now. The balance of the citrusy hops and clean malts produces an extremely enjoyable IPA experience. There are no off-putting aftertastes (e.g. soap / metallic) that I've gotten from some other strong AIPAs M: Remarkably smooth for the style and the ABV. Well-attenuated fermentation; no stickiness lingers. Crisp and clean. D: High ABV - you might not want to session with it if you aren't used to 7+ ABV but if you can hang with it, you will not regret it.