Samuel Smith's India Ale
Brown 550 ml bottle with no freshness date: poured into a Samuel Smith pint glass a deep, copper to almost brown with faint, golden highlights. This is quite a change from all the pale American IPAs. Like most English ales, this one has an exotic aroma. Very strong wine-like aroma calms down to some spicy, earthy hop aromas. Upon first tasting this ale, you could easily think it was mis-named as the flavor begins rather malty with hints of butterscotch. The hop bitterness comes forward only at the end. This is rather unique as most ales experience the bitter hops at the front. This has a nice, solid medium body with restrained carbonation. The mouthfeel is rather thick with a nicely balanced malt and hops flavor on the palate. This is a worthy, complex ale from a world class brewery. Indeed,given the ale's complexity and strong flavors, it is surprising this ale is only 5 % ABV. Well worth seeking out for a different interpretation of an IPA.