Grand Teton Brewing Company's Lost Continent Double IPA

I've liked everything I've had from this brewery, so I hope this hasn't been sitting in the cellar too long. From what I remember, I got it in Nebraska about a year ago.

Pours a cloudy deep amber with a pillowy light tan head that thins fairly quickly to a sheet. Big grassy hops smell, with a sweet malt and a slight hint of alcohol. 8% ABV is bigger than most, but not too big for a DIPA.

Whoa. It has such a big scotch hit to it that I had to look this beer up and see if it wasn't barrel aged. It wasn't, as best as I can tell. And the description from the brewery throws in just about every fruit they can think of as taste descriptors, and I just don't get it. I can taste the grapefruit in the mid-aftertaste, but the biggest thing about this beer is the oak taste, followed by the solidly bitter hops.

Good beer. Wish I'd had a warning about the scotch, but it's pretty good nonetheless.

Matt Brewing Company's Saranac India Pale Ale

Pours a light amber with a small-celled tan head that stays well with strong carbonation.

The head throws off a slightly grassy smell, and when it subsides the malt peeks through. Slightly sweet, it seems to be right on style.

Body is a little weak, but it's got a nice bitter punch to it that fades cleanly. Not a whole lot to describe about it, it's within type but not sexy. It's on the lighter side of bitter and body, but still clean enough to be drinkable. Pretty good beer, a definite improvement over their other one that I've had.

Sherwood Forest Brewers, Ltd.'s Sheriff's India Pale Ale

Well, the label is gay enough that I never would have tried this one had it not come to me in a beer of the month club. And I already have the other two of these in the "give to friends" side of the cellar.

Plus, it's from Massachusets. Which means it's brewed by massholes.

Pours a hazy amber with a nice tan head that has small cells and sticks well, just like an IPA should.

Smells nice as well. Kind of a floral hops smell that's very clean.

Yep, here's where it goes wrong. Lots of IPAs grab you right on the back of the tongue. This one does too, but too sharply. If you've ever stuck your tongue on a 9V battery, that's a bit how this feels. Not tastes. Feels. Weird weak-ish body as well that doesn't really flow well. More sharp than bitter with a bit of a fizzy soft drink feel.

Well, I gave it a shot. It looked and smelled just fine, but really went downhill from there.

O'Fallon Brewery's 5 Day IPA

A good beer from Missouri? I'm as shocked as you are.

Admittedly, IPA isn't my favorite style. I find them to generally be one-dimensional excuses for brewers to pump up the hops in a beer in order to hide the fact that they can't brew something that can stand on its own without an overly-bitter camouflage for their substandard ingredients. But, if done well, they can be a treat.

This particular one pours a hazy amber with a great tan head. Looks to be loosely filtered instead of any form of chill haze. Looks like it'll be substantial.

I can smell it already, grassy hops that the carbonation and head throw off like crazy. When you get closer to it the bready malt comes out strongly, making this at least smell well balanced.

Great level of bitterness in the taste with an orange-citrus zing that is different but fitting. Well balanced in the feel and taste, but understandably the hops take charge. Still, a well balanced IPA doesn't mean that there can't be prominent hops, and in fact that's part of the point but it shouldn't get out of control, and this one doesn't. Fairly high carbonation makes it a little lighter bodied than it would have been otherwise. Drink this one cold, because its only negative characteristic is that it gets a slight chemical taste as it warms.

Avery Brewing's Ale to the Chief

I know, I know, drinking this one on Inauguration day is gay. Still, I had to.

Pours a great coppery amber with a huge tan head. This is the first head on a pale of any type that I've ever seen cascade (like Guinness, for those unfamiliar with the term), and then it gets pillowy before it slowly fades. Moderate carbonation with big bubbles that slowly rise, a sign of a heavy bodied DIPA, I'm hoping.

Great grassy smell with a big, bready malt backbone. Not complex, but right what it should be.

Huh. Falls kind of flat on the taste. The grassy hops hit you right up front, but then quickly fade to a muted grassy-sweet flavor. Goddangit, it has Belgian dubbel traits that really bring it down for me. It mutes the taste and dulls the feel. I expected more of a fresh hop taste out of a dry hopped beer like this, especially a DIPA. The bitterness fades quickly, then finishes with a tart sweetness. Fairly substantial body, but the taste is relatively dull, moreso as it warms.

Great day, mediocre beer. About average for Avery.