Can there be too many West Coast breweries populating the shelves and tap handles in New York City? There really can’t be enough of these, bringing their massively bitter hop bombs and occasionally, some worthy, balanced beers, as the market tends to sort out the mediocre from the exceptional.
Alesmith, from San Diego, falls into the latter category for me, and graces this week’s post with its semiannual release, Yulesmith. A “Holiday Ale” by name, it encompasses two holidays in, thankfully, different bottles now. The Winter version is an Imperial Red Ale, a more balanced, even slightly sweet beer, straddling the line between massively malty and overly bitter.
The Yulesmith bottle I’m drinking, I, erm, forgot I had for several months; it’s a Summer 2010 Imperial IPA, basically a strong, unbalanced, dry, exceedingly bitter ale when fresh, and well worth every penny in that state. Now, it’s been kept at room temperature for a good five months. Can it hold up?
The brewers have nothing but nice things to say about their beer, of course. From the silkscreened bottle: “During the summer, YuleSmith is transformed into a big, hoppy, Double IPA. The enormous load of hops requires a substantial malt background to create just the right balance for a Double IPA.”
The summer Yulesmith pours a hazy pale orange, topped by a thick, lingering off-white creamy head — the better to trap the aromas. The nose is a rather intense lesson in West Coast hopping rates — there’s a big piney, grapefruity component to it, plus a little aspirinlike sharpness, though the hop that usually produces that, Amarillo, doesn’t appear that I’m aware of. Notably, the 9.5% alcohol by volume shows up as a hot little piece of the nose as well.
I love the initial flavors hitting my tongue, even though the Yulesmith is enamel-strippingly bitter; however, shortly after this the beer turns kind of astringent, like it’s dried out too much over the course of several extra months of not being consumed. As it’s bottle-conditioned, the yeast left in the bottle probably continued to munch away on the residual sugars, and so the beer might be a touch stronger and a touch less balanced than it used to be. Still, the malt could be doing more to hide the heat from the alcohol.
As the beer warms — it’s 22 ounces of rather strong beer, after all — oranges and grapefruits pop out and scrub the alcohol taste away much more efficiently. The beer is still raspy against my palate, but the newfound juiciness of the malt and fuller mouthfeel help “balance” the beer’s qualities. Yeah, there’s still alcohol, but it’s more in line with what tastes good. As if there were doubts about the finish, yes, it’s rough, bitter, and altogether welcoming.
Recommended? Fresh, yes, I recommend this. I also recommend the Winter version — the “O” in Holiday is a wreath! — which ought to be in fine, fine shape currently. Otherwise, you’ll probably find some Summer 2010 lurking about, and it’s worth picking up a bottle if only as a pint of comparison to the bottles you’ll be buying come July. Whole Foods sold this bottle for $7.99, which isn’t terrible for a strong seasonal.
Other beers available around these parts, for comparison? Green Flash Imperial IPA — also from San Diego — should be around. Rogue I2PA is worth a look, and Victory Hop Wallop and Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA are pretty much the few East Coast Imperial IPAs I’d consider; both are available in twelve-ounce bottles to boot. If you can be assured of the bottle’s freshness, it’s usually worth your while to experience any new West Coast brewery’s IPAs and IIPAs, if only to better understand what you prefer in your hoppy beers. Enjoy!
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