Mendocino Special Edition Imperial IPA
This American Double from the Mendocino Brewing Company comes out of Ukiah California. 7.5% ABV for this Double IPA. From the bottle neck:
Our Limited Edition Winter Seasonal is a robust, full-bodied Imperial India Pale Ale. This heavily hopped brew is exquisitedly blended with rich malts for a unique drinking sensation.
Appearance – The beer, poured into a globlet, is a deep rich amber. Very attractive color in fact. The head, however… that’s another story. I had to pratically slam the beer into the glass just to get the ¼” head that fell so fast I missed the color altogether. The beer coats the glass and leaves a decent lacing went takinga drink.
Smell - The aroma builds well as you bring the glass to your nose. Highly hopped, the aroma is… pungent. Perhaps that adjective springs to mind in light of the almost non-existance of the previous beers aroma. The slightest bit of taosted malt comes through. Enough to keep the smell from being altogether rank I suppose. There is also a sweetness there that seems fruity in nature but certainly not huge.
Taste - While certainly highly hopped, the taste is quite balanced for the style. Full in the mouth, there is a building metallic tartness that I find off-putting. It doesn’t stay long, but its enough to taint my opinion. It started off well enough. The malt is there to bring a balance to the equation. The bottom third of the beer begins to taste almost bready, chewy even.
Mouthfeel - Perfectly carbonated, this beer is fine to drink. Certainly full bodied, the taste didn’t linger in the mouth initally the way some IPAs can. That mouth puckering dryness that turns many folks off on IPAs altogether. However, as I drank more, it became clear that something was wrong. There is an odd aftertaste of metal that I find unpleasant.
Drinkability - Personally, I’m not sure I wouldn’t drink this again. Not to say you couldn’t. It is certainly worth another for the style. But I can’t make up my mind. The hops are balanced and I find that interesting for the style.
Bottomline – I’ve had to completely rewite the review after I got further into the beer. Then I had to rewrite it again. This is a beer that I will certainly remember, how fondly remains to be seen. But I would recommend it to any hophead for a try. Final grade…
C+
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