India Pale Ale - Meantime Brewing Company Limited

napetry

North Carolina

4.5/5  rDev +13.6%

01-06-2013 22:59:03 | More by napetry

mrfrancis

Kentucky

3.85/5  rDev -2.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

A: Pours a murky, hazy amber with a creamy, pillowy off-white head. Head retention is good and lacing is moderate.

S: Aromas of black tea, leather, white pepper, caramel, biscuits, toffee, tobacco, orange marmalade, lemon, honey, herbs, and cream fill the nose.

T: Notes of black tea, leather, caramel, biscuits, toffee, crackers, white pepper, tobacco, oak, cedar, orange, lemon, lime, honey, grass, herbs, and heavy cream wash across the palate. The finish is intense and punchy with notes of herbs, caramel, toffee, tea, pepper, biscuits, honey, and mild citrus undercut by a sharp alcohol burn.

M: Medium-in-body and dryish, but notably stickier and heavier than most English IPAs. Carbonation is delicate. Alcohol presence is detectable from the start, but intensifies immediately after the entry, lasting through the finish. This is definitely a sipping beer best suited for warm evenings.

O: I have long admired Meantime's desire to both innovate and faithfully recreate the styles of the past, but that being said, their actual beers are normally hit or miss for me. This IPA is not bad, but it is somewhat harsh, overly brash, and aggressive. It is definitely not the most drinkable example of the style. It does, however, display a commendable complexity and is solidly crafted. I would recommend this ale to fans of stronger British ales, especially those who fancy themselves EIPA connoisseurs.

Serving type: bottle

06-07-2013 22:16:33 | More by mrfrancis

WesM63

Ohio

3.25/5  rDev -17.9%

05-28-2013 04:03:40 | More by WesM63

alelover

Michigan

3.75/5  rDev -5.3%

05-24-2013 16:14:19 | More by alelover

adkrogue

New York

3.5/5  rDev -11.6%

05-20-2013 17:32:46 | More by adkrogue

CrazyDavros

Australia

3.85/5  rDev -2.8%
look: 3 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 2 | overall: 4

Pours deep amber with a small head.
Sweet aroma of heavy malt with bold bready notes. Also resinous and earthy hops alongside some orange marmalade.
Extremely malty flavours too, a bit like malt extract. Some earthy and resinous hops and more orange marmalade. A bit too sweet.
Could use more carbonation.

Serving type: bottle

05-15-2013 01:52:41 | More by CrazyDavros

flyingpig

United Kingdom (Scotland)

3.83/5  rDev -3.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

750ml bottle from Utobeer, Borough Market, London (£6.50):
Orange amber, a thumb sized, bubbly white head that holds pretty well. The beer is a clear too.

Hoppy to begin with some sweetness following this and a touch of caramel and sweet malts. There is some floral touches and a few background fruits along with some plum and citrus. Towards the end I could detect some lighter fruits, herbal notes and a hint of biscuit malts.

Fruit and light hops with some floral notes, lots of caramel and some sweet malts. There is some light earthy hops too and a touch of grapefruit plus some bitter pine.

Smooth, a medium body and a sweet, malty mouthfeel that goes down well. There is moderate carbonation and a nice, crisp and refreshing finish.

Quite hoppy but not overly bitter and with a solid caramel and sweet malt base that was very enjoyable.

Serving type: bottle

05-13-2013 14:45:19 | More by flyingpig

mikeburd1128

New Jersey

3/5  rDev -24.2%

05-12-2013 17:21:28 | More by mikeburd1128

wordemupg

Alberta (Canada)

3.51/5  rDev -11.4%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5

750ml corked and caged bottle poured into tulip 9/5/13

A looks a little murky in a "burnt orange" (wife's description) body, seems that the color darkens towards the center of the glass, the slow gushing bottle only puts out a short lived finger of foam that leaves zero lace

S apple juice, lemon, biscuit, bleached white paper, and a heap of caramel apple and musty basement

T more lemon and musty basement, less caramel apple and more apple juice and its almost sour, thistle perhaps? has a green leafy aspect that almost reminds me of grass

M medium-full, low carbonation, no booze, but has a strange sour apple mixed with wet bread thing going on for the aftertaste

O even for an English style IPA I'm a little board, the apple popping up everywhere seems out of place and It's decent for what it is but I wouldn't go out of your way to drink it

I find it hard to rate styles I find boring and this ones a boring example of a boring stye. I'm board now for sure, time to go fire off bottle rockets towards the seniors home across the street.

Serving type: bottle

05-10-2013 03:56:21 | More by wordemupg

PajamaHive

Missouri

4.75/5  rDev +19.9%

05-02-2013 01:49:19 | More by PajamaHive

hosehead83

Ohio

4.01/5  rDev +1.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Poured from an eleagant looking 11.2 oz. "bowling pin" bottle into a standard pint glass.
Deep apricot in color, with a moderate-to -short head of bone-white foam.
Aroma-Sweet toasted malt, hop note, new leather basketball
Taste-Toasted malt,toffee, caramel, mineral note; all just barely balanced by a good dose of noble hops and white-grapefruit -rind bitterness. A classic English IPA, that begs for a spicy food pairing. Indian, Thai, or maybe just a hunk of aged white cheddar.

Serving type: bottle

04-28-2013 21:36:23 | More by hosehead83

gshackles

New York

4/5  rDev +1%

04-24-2013 02:16:14 | More by gshackles

Bnoise11

California

2.75/5  rDev -30.6%

04-15-2013 01:28:07 | More by Bnoise11

FrankHammer

Michigan

3.5/5  rDev -11.6%

04-12-2013 19:17:44 | More by FrankHammer

steverx8

United Kingdom (England)

4.5/5  rDev +13.6%

04-11-2013 21:47:41 | More by steverx8

biboergosum

Alberta (Canada)

4.06/5  rDev +2.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

750ml wire cage and corked bottle. All I can think of right now is Spacehog's 'In the Meantime', so that is what Youtube will be doing for the next five or so minutes, on repeat, maybe. Oh, and a rather weak lack of brewer's spiel on the back label - thank you no [sic] much, Mr. Importer.

This beer pours a clear, medium copper amber colour, with three fingers of puffy, rocky, and foamy dirty white head, which leaves some decent bathtub ring lace around the glass as it steadily and readily recedes.

It smells of rather prominent and heady biscuity, grainy crystal malt, strong lemon zest, a bit of orange rind, and dry floral, leafy, earthy hops - English beyond a doubt, in a very good way. The taste is semi-sweet grainy, biscuity pale malt, a touch of caramel, soft citrus rind, and slightly zingy floral, grassy, earthy hops, the noble sort at their near best. The 15-proof booze does well to remain totally inconspicuous.

The bubbles are fairly innocuous, the body just on the lee side of medium weight, and more than adequately smooth. It finishes off-dry, the crackery, biscuity malt still large and in charge, with the caramel, fruit, and hops (stiff in upper lip only) more or less giving up the ghost.

A quite tasty English ale, one which I would have much more ease believing if you told me it was a hepped-up ESB, rather than another rendition of 'we're not an American band' IPA. Give it a rest. Anyways, a rather sexy bitter ale, with a grand ol' bit of warming sass, sans the typical flavour consequences.

Serving type: bottle

03-30-2013 07:50:40 | More by biboergosum

StonedTrippin

Colorado

4/5  rDev +1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

one of the odd examples of an English ipa that tastes more like an American ipa, usually its the other way around, but this one is hop heavy without all the caramel malt sweetness. the pour has a nice reddish color to it, fairly hazy, with a few fingers of lasting khaki foam. the nose is big bold woody oily American hops, centennial maybe, maybe something else high alpha, but this has a real hop forwardness to it. the malts aren't really sweet at all, just biscuity in a supporting role. the flavor agrees with the smell, hops all the way. there is a nice citrus element to it, orange peel and a lot of bitterness in the finish. the alcohol is well hidden in taste, but you can certainly feel a big bottle of this. the yeast imparts an almost Belgian brightness to the mouthfeel. its effervescently carbonated, which is nice in a big ipa for once, and the body is fuller than medium but not filling or weighty. overall this is an exemplary beer, a whole lot better than meantimes coffee porter, and one that's actually pretty fairly priced at under 13 bucks for a 750ml. its worth all of that, a real treat where I honestly least expected it.

Serving type: bottle

03-23-2013 16:09:13 | More by StonedTrippin

Grizzly_Dom

United Kingdom (England)

4.45/5  rDev +12.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Appearance:
Crystal clear copper colour with a rocky white head and loads of thick lace on the glass.

Nose:
Rich sweet maltiness and fresh, almost minty hops. There's citrussy fruitiness in there. Christ knows what fruit with my palate.

Taste:
Pretty fizzy and light in the mouth with deep dark depths of the rich toffee maltiness and that expected sharp bitter hop burst. It's a different more subtle kind of fruity hopppiness than you get in the beautiful yank ipa's I've had lately. Nowt wrong with that though.

Finish:
Dry bitter finish with rich biscuity malt and a bit of creamy caramel.

Overall:
One of the best IPA's I can remember tasting. Richness and depth of malty flavour with the bundles of happy hoppiness you'd expect. Feels like a real treat! Pretty strong but the alcohol is beautifully disguised.

Serving type: bottle

03-21-2013 19:47:38 | More by Grizzly_Dom

BigBarley

Texas

3.5/5  rDev -11.6%

03-21-2013 16:28:16 | More by BigBarley

naphi23

Massachusetts

3.75/5  rDev -5.3%

03-16-2013 18:35:53 | More by naphi23

djrn2

New Jersey

3.75/5  rDev -5.3%

02-24-2013 16:40:14 | More by djrn2

Phillyz

Pennsylvania

4.25/5  rDev +7.3%

02-12-2013 21:33:57 | More by Phillyz

DmanGTR

New York

4/5  rDev +1%

02-05-2013 19:08:31 | More by DmanGTR

Bouleboubier

Pennsylvania

4.11/5  rDev +3.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A: quite cloudy/hazy, orange in color...sudsy foam, laces in webs, leaves a medium-thick collar - unkempt, slovenly, unfiltered

S: orange-zest hop aromas...crystal malt in support, some lightly husky toasted pale malt in the background...moderate amount of vibrant, flowery esters filling in the dead space like a fog - hardly bold overall, more rustic, certainly English

T: candied blood or navel orange with accompanying, lingering citrus-juice sugars...more crystal malt than pale malt flavors, yet muddled against the yeasty-fruity overtones....fair-to-moderate hop bitterness, soft and fuzzy, floral and grassy

M: bitter don't bite, though there is some tingle on the tongue....quite smooth, not so thick in body - more like just touching medium - though it feels full-er, foamy

O: purdy good, purdy unrefined (in a positive manner) - malty like a Helles and quite orange-flavored - the bitterness is soft, but on the high side for a UK version - would be interested in having again, hopefully more fresh...

Serving type: on-tap

02-05-2013 06:20:20 | More by Bouleboubier

Zuidman

Illinois

4/5  rDev +1%

02-03-2013 04:25:09 | More by Zuidman