alesmith yulesmith winter 2009
Saturday, December 19th, 2009
when I was organizing bottles for the strong beer session, I came across a bottle of yulesmith by alesmith down in san diego that PB and NB donated to the cause a while back.
- I assumed this brew was a strong winter warmer or barleywine based on the packaging, but further research revealed that it was in fact a highly-hopped double red.
- in fact, the beer comes out twice a year, and is a double IPA in the summer and a double red in the winter.
- truthfully, when I cracked open the beer and took a sniff, I thought it was a double IPA – the hop aroma was very intense and citrusy.
- only the dark pour gave any indication that this was something else in addition to a straight up hop bomb.
- the beer was fantastic – very well balanced, with plenty of malt to counter the hop aggressiveness.
- I’m a big fan of alesmith – their founders started as accomplished homebrewers and made their dream a reality. plus, it’s easy to support their cause when they put out kickass beers!
