Tonight's beer is the Flashback 30th Anniversary Ale from Boulder Beer, an India style brown ale. An India pale ale (IPA) is a beer style that comes from the beer brewed in England and shipped to British troops stationed in India. To keep the beer fresh in the long trip around the Cape of Good Hope, IPA's differ from typical pale ales in the amount of hops added during the boil. Here's the label.
True to this form, the present ale is brewed with Cascade hops which, according to the label, are added five times during the brewing. I do not know how many hops are added during the brewing process, nor do I know what type of addition (bittering, flavor, aroma, cold hop). The brewers also use biscuit (aka Victory) malt and chocolate malt.
The Cascade hops and the biscuit malt gives the brew a citrusy flavor, and thus gives it the lingering feel, not unlike that of orange juice, after swallowing a mouthful. The chocolate malt adds the nutty flavor, but the brew is overly malty for my taste.. Highly hopped, it's not a smooth finish, but lovers of malty, darker ales should like this brew.
Phil's rating: 12
Plusses: hoppy
Minuses: overly malty and citrusy, a combo that seems like overkill