Day #155 – Saint Arnold Elissa IPA

Somebody help me! I’ve gone IPA-CRAZY!!! I don’t know what happened. I went to my favorite beer store to pick up some new beer to review, and I really like this place cause they allow you to pick and choose what you would like to buy in terms of single bottles. I can go through and pick out one bottle from a 6 pack and just buy that one. It’s great because think about how much it would cost me to buy that many 6 packs just to review 1 bottle! Anyways, it all started with one small IPA. I grabbed it and stuck it in my empty 6 pack carrier. Before I knew it, I had 4 IPAs in there. Then it was full. I can’t explain what happened to me, but I was overcome with the IPA spirit.

So expect this to be the week of IPAs, with every day featuring a different India Pale Ale. If you’re lucky, I might sneak in a dreaded IMPERIAL IPA or 2…

Saint Arnold Elissa IPA

We’re starting off with the first bottle I picked up today, and I grabbed it because it was a Texas beer from one of my favorite breweries; Saint Arnold. The Elissa IPA is no small beer and you’ll see in the flavor profile. At 6.6% ABV, this beer was named after a ship that is now moored in Galveston, the ELISSA. This ship may or may not have transported beer to India. That just adds to the mystery.

This beer pours a slightly hazy golden orange color with a foamy white head. The head does start to fade fairly quickly to form a small layer of bubbles.

Aroma is very sweet fruit and hops. Grapefruit, pine, floral notes and sap. Very nice aroma.

Flavor is hoppy sweet right upfront. Grapefruit and citrus again with a sharply dry, biting bitter sensation from the hops. Definitely taste lots of hops in this. Piney, sappy and sweet. This is very nice. A solid Texas brew without a doubt.

Go Mavs!