JC Flyer IPA - Iron Springs Pub & Brewery

Nage37

California

4.25/5  rDev +10.4%

12-08-2012 21:47:30 | More by Nage37

ambruns1979

California

3.75/5  rDev -2.6%

03-31-2013 19:48:03 | More by ambruns1979

t0rin0

California

4/5  rDev +3.9%

10-15-2012 01:55:00 | More by t0rin0

Binger72

Massachusetts

3.75/5  rDev -2.6%

10-03-2012 12:53:05 | More by Binger72

ccrida

Oregon

4.5/5  rDev +16.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Bomber poured into my Heretic Brewing shaker pint, JC Flyer is dark, burnt gold with a thin white skim leaving really nice, sticky lace.

Smell is also very good. Skunky. Resinous. Earthy wood. Lightly sweet.

Taste is great, my kind of IPA. Light malt, modest bitterness, and huge west coast hops. Loads of bubblegum, citrus, pine, wood. Yummy. Between this and Casey Jones, these guys are firmly on my radar.

Mouthfeel is oily, dry, light bodied.

Drinkability is high. This is awesome. Wow, how is it not better known. We have just too many good IPAs out here on the west coast...sigh, problems!

Serving type: bottle

08-04-2012 05:03:32 | More by ccrida

elNopalero

Texas

4.45/5  rDev +15.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Had this direct from the brewery—I love it when I can get brewery fresh IPAs!

This pours an orangey light amber color with some foaming. There’s a great hop aroma on this—I get some straw but mostly citrusy hops—orange dominates—with a light green pine-grassy note to round it out. The flavor has a up front and present bitterness and a light resiny chew with some citrusy and orange notes. Great finish—resiny and bitter and layered.

--- review from 7-29-2012

This pours a glowing golden color with tight light foam.

I enjoyed the pine and grapefruit notes on its aroma. Before each sip I caught myself inhaling deeply. Mmmmm!

This is one tasty brew, with a flavor full of grapefruit and some piney resin. There’s a sharp bitterness, perfectly appropriate, with a light chew rounding out the finish.

Very enjoyable. An assertive west coast IPA from an unsung brewery in the bay area. Can you dig it?

Serving type: on-tap

07-29-2012 07:29:37 | More by elNopalero

terence

California

3.5/5  rDev -9.1%

06-02-2012 03:39:02 | More by terence

jenray

Texas

4.5/5  rDev +16.9%

11-25-2011 15:40:42 | More by jenray

brewandbbq

New Hampshire

4/5  rDev +3.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

22oz bottle.

Pours hazy amber with a half inch of tight beige foam. Smeary lacing and a mostly solid skim coat for the duration.

Aromatics lead off with cracked garlic, grapefruit, pine, doughy malt, and a minerally crispness.

Medium bodied with a crisp, tacky mouthfeel.

Resinous hops with a solid malt backbone start the palate. Heavy on the pine with grapefruit following through. Some chaulkiness adds an additional perception of bitterness, but the beer is pretty smooth overall.

Finishes with lingering hop resins, pine sap, and citrus pith.

Tasty one and tasting quite fresh. The chaulkiness and heavier dose (for a west coaster) of malt give it the English nod, but barely. Stacked up against other west coast IPA's this one falls a bit short though.

Serving type: bottle

11-15-2011 01:49:48 | More by brewandbbq

emerge077

Illinois

3.98/5  rDev +3.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

On tap at the brewery, review from written notes.

Light gold bleeds into saturated orange, lightly hazed. Racing streams of carbonation. Thin layer of white foam that leaves some spotty lace.

Well hopped and a little dank with generous C hops. Mostly bitter citrus rind, clean tasting with a hint of malt sweetness. Light bodied, citrus forward hop flavors, bitter grapefruit rind and other citrus fruit species. Finished dry with a residual dose of hop bitterness. A nice easygoing (non-aggressive) west coast IPA, a very drinkable pint (or two).

Serving type: on-tap

10-12-2011 23:10:57 | More by emerge077

Seanibus

California

3.73/5  rDev -3.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3.5

Tasty and hoppy, perhaps a little thin on the finish, but an easy-drinker for hopheads.

Pours a slightly hazing orange with a fluffy head that falls away fast. The aroma is piny and sharp, with a resiny bite. The flavor is zippy and hoppy, with pine and citrus, reminiscent of the bite of the Green Flash West Coast IPA. There is a razor-sharp gasoline-like bitterness on the finish. The mouthfeel, however, is a disappointment, watery and insubstantial.

Serving type: bottle

09-24-2011 00:48:52 | More by Seanibus

PerHops

California

4.53/5  rDev +17.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

A- Very nice cloudy copper orange. Looks like it could be a double IPA.

S- Not as profound as I would hope. Slight pine, citrus, grass. Not at all bad, but not memorable either.

T- Tropical fruits, orange peel, a little caramel and a perfectly clean bitter finish. Exceptional balance, everything I want from an IPA.

M- Perfect carbonation for the style.

I have had this beer on draft and in the bottle. I much prefer this one in the bottle. I am surprised to see the mediocre to poor reviews. It is strange, however, that they call this an english style IPA. I can't really see where they're getting that from as this is very much an excellent example of a west coast IPA. Also the bottle says this beer is 7.0, not 6.

Serving type: bottle

08-28-2011 02:32:33 | More by PerHops

Beerandraiderfan

Nevada

3.95/5  rDev +2.6%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Had this on tap at the Bistro ipa fest, then in a $3.77 bomber from Ledger's.

Yellowy type of beer, a little hazy, nice soapy head, thicker, like bath soap bubbles. Really good hop aroma, piney, soft, flowery.

Taste, pretty good, the pine aroma somewhat morphs to pink grapefruit, very light malt aspect, earthy hops, bitterness is just right, existant and not wimpy, but not overshadowing the hop profile itself. Enjoyed that there are still 6% ipas out there, everything always seems to try and be over the top in the wrong areas.

Instead of a caramel mouthfeel, this one leans toward lighter toffee or toast.

A real solid ipa, at a great price. Nothing groundbreaking, although a return to simple 6% ipa's with good dry simcoe hopping . . . maybe it is a little more novel than one would think.

Serving type: on-tap

08-23-2011 22:08:42 | More by Beerandraiderfan

avaldivia

California

3.7/5  rDev -3.9%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Tasted at Whole Foods in Novato, in their tasting area. Poured into a snifter.

A: Hazy light orange color. Decent size head.

S: Orange and citrus scent. A good amount of malt and sweetness coming through on the nose.

T: A good amount of a hop piny flavor. Sweet butterscotch malt flavors are strong after the initial hop taste.

M: Medium thick and rather smooth. Rather syrupy for not being an Imperial IPA.

O: Okay IPA. One I would order on occasion but not often.

Serving type: bottle

07-30-2011 05:10:44 | More by avaldivia

biegaman

Ontario (Canada)

3.73/5  rDev -3.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

American IPAs are often said to have orange fruit-like features of citrus and acidity; the fact that this one is so orange it could have born on a tree is just coincidence. Despite its lack of clarity, the beer shines with incandescence. Its relatively bare surface need not be concerning; the foamy washer that circles it polka-dots the glass with glinting circles.

The aroma has an orange juice-like sugary/acidic character and a bit of garden-variety hop pungency to chase it. At this point it seems like searching for any maltiness would be a lost cause - there's just too much pithy, citrusy flavour that it's buried (if it is in fact in there). The bitterness acts like a precautionary 'beware of hop' sign on the front door.

The flavour is as distinctive as it is not; it has a bitter pine-y resins and a candied citrus flavour that you'd associate with a characterful American-brewed IPA but it also falls short where mouthfeel is concerned, tasting a little diluted and failing to make much of a lasting impression. Some of that, mind you, has to do with the fact that it's actually balanced.

Crunchy malts (like stale pieces of toast) are on equal terms with the pungent, almost vegetal hops. Bitterness is drying and slightly astringent, like steamed greens, but isn't overwhelming and any less of it in this malty 6% frame would be insufficient. Granted, it doesn't have the same gratification as other similar character offerings, but that doesn't make it bad.

JC Flyer is named after a Bay Area county-rocker I've never heard of and it's a beer that probably most people will never hear of either. But that doesn't mean it isn't good. By the same token, it's nothing anybody outside the Bay Area should necessarily know either. The somewhat harsh, final verdict of JC Flyer is that it's a standard IPA, a take-it-or-leave-it offering that is completely average in every aspect.

Serving type: bottle

07-30-2011 04:36:21 | More by biegaman

OBeerMeGreatOne

California

3.35/5  rDev -13%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Pours out a slightly hazy orange with about an inch of head. The head leaves spots of lace all over the glass.

Smell starts with butterscotch and citrus with a hint of fresh cut grass.

The taste starts with plain white bread with a touch of citrus. This is followed by the fresh cut grass taste which makes up the long lasting aftertaste. It seems to be missing the sweetness (or balanced malts) that are hinted at in the smell. Though mown lawn is a great IPA hop character, it's a bit overpowering here.

All in all, a nice effort that could use just a bit of tweaking.

Serving type: bottle

07-28-2011 23:30:59 | More by OBeerMeGreatOne

jibbyvonjibb

California

4/5  rDev +3.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A: Golden color. Quite effervescent, like a champagne. Thin head with tiny bubbles and good lacing on the glass.
S: Standard ipa citrus, mostly grapefruit. Some orange sweetness, with watermelon notes.
T: Starts with bready sweetness. Ends fairly dry with a bit of floral bitterness.
M: Medium body, somewhat thinner than most ipa's, which is an advantage with me. Carbonation medium-high.
O: Not your average ipa. More subtle in flavor, not a bad thing. Not ground-breaking, but interesting and drinkable.

Serving type: on-tap

06-09-2011 20:00:51 | More by jibbyvonjibb

largadeer

Kentucky

1.6/5  rDev -58.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 1

On tap at Toronado. Not a big fan of this brewery, but I figured this was worth a try for $3. It's clear in the glass, golden and bright, with a small white head that retains fairly well. The aroma is muted and a bit buttery, lacking in hop character but moderately malty and sweet. I also get a bit of soap and grass. It's surprisingly bland on the tongue, though plentifully bitter. Caramel malt, astringent herbal hops, light diacetyl and grapefruit make up the entirety of this beer's flavor and mouthfeel. I wasn't expecting anything great, but this pretty much sucks. The finish becomes unbearably astringent after half a pint. Blah.

Serving type: on-tap

04-05-2010 00:54:53 | More by largadeer

ffejherb

Pennsylvania

4.08/5  rDev +6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

On tap at Iron Springs on 7/19/09.

A - Slightly hazy amber/orange body with vigorous carbonation and a slim off-white head that settled into a patchy film and thin ring of retention, leaving only sparse lace around the glass.

S - Pleasant aromatic hop aroma with fruity notes, a hint of spices and just a pinch of catbox. Simcoe hops give this IPA a very strong aroma. A slight waft of alcohol also emerged as the liquid warmed up.

T - Spicy and fruity hop character with leafy notes and quite a bit of floral attributes. Very complex hop profile due to the use of five different hop varietals. A sweet malt character offers a nice contrast to the assertive hop bitterness and suggests caramel and toffee notes that eventually morph into a grainy character in the finish.

M - Medium body with a smooth, mellow mouthfeel and slightly oily texture. Carbonation is fairly bright, but not overstated. Finishes with a dry, lingering hop bitterness on the palate.

D - Pretty darm good (and hoppy) IPA with a really pungent aroma. Nice use of a variety of hops in the mix. Glad I tried this one.

Serving type: on-tap

08-19-2009 21:19:35 | More by ffejherb

mjl21

California

3.68/5  rDev -4.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

On tap at the brewpub. Poured into a pint glass. Comes in at 6%.

A-Cloudy golden amber. Has a 1/2 finger white head when delivered that sticks around.

S-Floral and some citrusy hops are found in the nose. This one is finished with whole leaf Simcoe and it is definitely noticeable.

T-Reminds me a lot of a lighter version of their Case Jones DIPA. Lots of grapefruit throughout this one. It is malty but by no means sweet. As it warms the floral hops come out a lot more.

M-Falls on the larger spectrum of medium bodied. Nice carbonation results in a smooth beer.

D-This guy is a really easy drinking IPA. It is not heavy. The grapefruit bitterness would probably result in palate fatigue after two.

I always like to see when a brewery offers a new IPA and I thought overall they did a good job with this one. Since this one is offered as a smoother option to their regular IPA, I will have to go back and revisit that beer.

Serving type: on-tap

04-16-2009 05:01:07 | More by mjl21