Snake Hollow IPA - Potosi Brewing Company

So, the whole pesky finals thing has kept me from making entries in quite some time, and I've built up quite a backlog in notes since then, so I'm going to do my best to unload them all in rapid succession over the next few days.

This beer came to me in a BYO 6-pack at the Old-Fashioned and will ultimately be drank again during my Beer Tour at the Old Fashioned.

Name: Snake Hollow IPA

Style: IPA

IBU: 70

ABV: 7.0%

Gravity: 15 Plato

Purchased at: Old Fashioned Craft Beer Week "Build Your Own 6-Pack"

Now on to the good stuff...

The Descriptions: I'm breaking down my descriptions now that I have looked back and seen that they are a jumbled mess :-) Hopefully this will make for easier reading...assuming anyone actually reads this thing...

Appearance: Pours a pretty amber/copper-ish color, more straw like and light than a lot of IPAs I have seen recently. About a 1.5-2 finger head on the top that recedes very quickly, leaving some semi-heavy lace around the glass.

Smell: Honestly, the first smell I got was metallic, which is NOT a good sign of things to come. However, this was fleeting and was quickly replaced by a surprising and pleasant smell. This definitely smelled fruitier than I thought it would and less piney (than I thought it'd be - pine is still the main smell other than citrus here). You can smell some lemon, orange, and maybe grapefruit in there I think, and it doesn't smell quite as hoppy as a lot of other IPAs or pale ales in general. Very pleasant smelling unless you get that metallic smell up front...very odd.

Taste: So this beer was quite odd...I thought the citrus smell came through more than the pine smell, which surprised me. Also, you get the hop feel without a lot of hop taste here...there is a big grassy hop taste that comes through briefly, but I feel like the citrus and malts overpower that. I actually find it interesting that it seems more grassy than piney. It does not hide the ABV very well and gives you a bit of a spicy taste to it with a very bitter finish. My biggest issue with this beer will now be stated: before you hit that hop bitterness I got a HUGE wave of a metallic taste (granted it was only slightly metallic, but it seemed to linger forever before the hop bitterness kicked in). I am not sure if this is an issue with just getting a bad bottle or if that's just how it tastes based on their brewing equipment, etc. Either way it was not pleasant. This beer just wasn't quite as balanced as I like...something (besides the metallic taste) seemed off.

Mouthfeel: The mouthfeel was also surprising, as it was quite a bit lighter than a lot of IPAs that I've had, but still had that resinous feel to it, that it coated your mouth and sort of stuck there. This beer definitely dries your mouth out as you're drinking it.

Which brings me to the overall conclusion...

Overall Grade: C+/B-

Comments: Don't get me wrong, aside from the metallic aspects this beer is not bad, it is quite decent. However, if I'm going to pay money for a craft beer, I expect something more. Also, pale ales are my specialty, my absolute favorite type of beer. With so many good pale ales out there I just can't see myself buying this one again over a number of the others...up to you to decide whether to try this one, but I can't guarantee you'll like the results if you do. If you can get it in a single bottle then give it a shot I suppose if you're a BIG IPA fan; otherwise, keep your eyes moving down that beer list before ordering.

Cheers,

Hurls