Oskar Blues Deviant Dale's IPA

Photo Credit: P. Giametteo 

The Brewers:
Brewmaster: David Chichura
Company: Oskar Blues Brewery
Location: 1800 Pike Road, Unit B Longmont, Colorado
Website: http://www.oskarblues.com/

The Beer:
Style: American India Pale Ale (American IPA)
ABV: 8%
IBU: 85
Brewed with: Columbus Hops
Served: On tap at Widow Brown's of Danbury (http://www.widowbrowns.com/)

The Drink:
Drank out of a 16 oz. American pint glass

Pours a brilliant copper color with a thick, cream-colored head.  Good head retention and spectacular lacing.

Strong American hop citrus and pine aromas with subtle spicy/peppery notes.  Sweet, caramel malt also apparent on the nose.

Beer starts with an upfront, piney hop character, with subtle peppery and spicy tones.  Carbonation is moderately low for an IPA, but this helps to accentuate the malt backbone of this beer.  The middle of the beer rides out the center of the palate with a good dry and caramel malt flavor, and a full mouthfeel.  The finish is very long, and also very dry, and the peppery and spicy notes of the hops really come through in this stage.  Expect the citrus and pine to come back through towards the end, as the hop aroma really hangs around with this beer.

Overall:
This is a good example of a malty IPA.  Though hop aroma is still center stage, the heavy caramel and body malts help to balance out some of the bitter from the hops, lending this beer an almost sweet taste (this is relative of course).  The hop aromas are the typical citrus and pine of domestic American hops (Oskar Blues uses Columbus), and this beer is designed around those aromas.  As far as IPAs go, this beer is more or less the opposite of the Stone Ruination IPA, which is brewed with an emphasis on hop aroma and big hop bitterness.  If you're looking for a well-balanced, big-body, malty-sweet IPA with a hefty dose of aroma hops I would look no further than Oskar Blues Deviant Dale's.