Hopefully the first of many Christmas beers today.
Fill level was good and bottle appeared in decent condition despite sitting in freezing cold all week in the back of a truck so thats good news. Pour pretty dark but you can tell it has decent clarity when looking at the edge of the glass. Pours with a decent size 1 finger head that dosnt hang around too long despite its adaquate and possibly higher than average carbonation.
In the aroma there is roast, chocolate, alochol (no idea what the abv is on this beer but that might point to the limited head retention. ) Verry little hops despite it being an ipa, I get some frutiy esters most likely from the English yeast. The hops that are there have an earthy english like smell but it is faint. from the smell I would have not guessed this is an ipa. It smells pretty close to yoopers oatmeal stout that is aloso fermented with an english yeast, less fruit but similar. fermented with an english yeast, less fruit but similar.
Flavor is that of roast and chocolate but it is thin, porter like. It comes across as dry slightly sweet and a smooth bitterness on the back. Slight alochol at the roof of my mouth and back of my throat. I honestly am not getting any hop flavor only bitterness.
mouth feel is thin and drying, leaves you ready for another drink.
Overall this beer is decent but I would not call it an IPA. I dont notice any off flavors in the aroma or flavor. My thoughts are this beer is getting old or there were just not enough late addition hops and or dry hops to make it an IPA. The beer appears to have good brewing and fermenting practices but the recipe needs some tweaking, especially in the hop department. I do look forward to the two others I have that were made with the same wort and just different yeast though to see what flavors get lost and added.
EDIT: Noticed that the bottle says IIPA not IPA so that explains alot of the alocol i was getting, and am currently feeling after just the one.