AleWerks Bitter Valentine
Our Double IPA is loaded with Pacific Northwest hops blended with a light malt backbone. A bitter Valentine for you to love, how ever unrequited.
4
181 reviews
Williamsburg, United States
Community reviews
Hazy amber color; Medium body; Aroma of pine/resin hops, some floral, & fruit/citrus; Flavor of sweet malt, pine/resin hops, fruit, some caramel, and citrus; Finish is dry & bitter; Nicely balanced; Very good!
This beer is another reason why Alewerks is in my top favorite breweries. This literally smells like tropical orange juice. Like someone squeezed a handful of oranges, pineapple, papaya, mango and peaches then said "turn into a dipa now" It’s so aromatic and intense. Taste is just like the aroma with a nice pop of bitterness that lingers around. There is so much flavor, and you can tell the quality of this as soon as you taste it. This one and Secret Admirer are absolute amazing tropical bombs and I highly recommend trying this beer, it’s worth every penny and drink it as fresh as possible so you can bask in glorious hoppiness. Cheers!
Unfiltered a plus. Light on hops. Nice beer. Nothing special but yet nothing missing from this.
Williamsburg, Va - on tap at the Alewerks Taproom. Hazy, light golden, silky snow white head, thick lacing. Juicy fruit gum, spruce in the aroma. Full-bodied flavor with some pineapple notes, a touch of citrus bitterness, trailing caramel sweetness. Decently thick mouthfeel. Saved the best for last in my visit to Alewerks.
Large Format - Cloudy orange color. No head. Lots of grapefruit flavors going on, some other fruit tastes as well. Hops flavor that is not strong and not a whole lot of bitterness.
Pours hazy orange with a white head. Head retention is ok. Aroma: hop bitterness, tropical fruit, herbal/floral notes, caramel, pine, citrus, oranges and malty sweetness. Taste: citrus, pine, hop bitterness, peppercorns, oranges/tangerines, tropical fruit, caramel, herbs, slight alcohol and spices. Dry finish with a peppery, alcohol and citrus aftertaste. Awesome DIPA that?s well balanced and flavorful. Special thanks to my friend Shea from VA for sending this brew as part of our trade.
Bottled. Orangey brown pour. Lots of head. Beautiful floral aroma. Resin. Pine and not super citrus.
Very nice. Had no idea this rated so highly when I took the first sip but it certainly deserves accolades. Golden pour with good head and lacing. Citrus and some hay. Bittersweet finish. Creamy texture and soft carbonation. Extra points for drinkability at this high alcohol level. Tap at Churchkey.
Thanks Jesse. Date on the side reads 03/25/15
This was poured into a tulip.
The appearance was a hazy burnt glossy orange with an ample amount of ruddy brown coloring. Soft stringy carbonation rides to the top in a moderate pace. Barely any head softens to some light bubbles riding the top of the glass. A light film of lacing sticks to the sides and gently falls.
The smell had a sweet to bitter blend citrus hops with a soft crisp apple arranging itself nicely in the mix.
The taste took the bitterness and the sweet to combine. A sticky sweet citrus aftertaste starts and lingers into a wet finish.
On the palate, this one sat about a medium on the body with a fairly decent sessionability about it. A rapid bitterness wraps itself around my tongue to pound into submission.
Overall, I say this was a really nice DIPA. I liked that initial apple aroma that blended nicely. I’d say a unique DIPA that I would have again.
Bomber from Peabody’s, Boone, NC. Scents of citra hops, piney, with malt. Pours medium copper with a medium white foam that lingers with good lacing. Citra hops, malt, resin, rind, good and fresh feel with a bit of thickness. Great beer! Get it when you can!
Sample, draught, during the Great American Beer Festival (Denver), savoured on October 3 2014; eye: amber, no effervescence, tiny ring of beige head, no lacing; nose: hops, pine, orange, light grain, tropical fruits; mouth: hops, pine, orange, light grain, tropical fruits, light astringency, finale in pine with light presence of grapefruit, full body, average carbonation, mildly bitter, slightly sweet, lightly harsh texture; overall: fine
FRANÇAIS
Échantillon, en fût, lors du Great American Beer Festival (Denver), savourée le 3 octobre 2014; œil : ambrée, pas d’effervescence, petit anneau de mousse beige, pas de dentelle; nez : houblon, pin, orange, léger grain, fruits tropicaux; bouche : houblon, pin, orange, léger grain, fruits tropicaux, légère astringence, finale en pin avec légère présence de pamplemousse, corsée, carbonatation moyenne, moyennement amère, très légèrement sucrée, texture légèrement râpeuse; en résumé : bien
Bottle from Whole Foods Fair Lakes
Aroma: bread, alcohol, spruce,
Appearance: golden orange,
Taste: medium sweetness, medium bitterness,
Palate: full body, creamy, average carbonation, long finish,
Overall: great beer
This brew pours a bright orange orange-bronze color with a medium off-white head that recedes steadily to a film. Stringy lacing on the glass. The aroma is hoppy with floral and malty notes. Medium to full body with flavors of piney hops, citrus and grainy malt. The finish is moderately bitter with a lingering fruity hops aftertaste. Solid beer all around.
Bottle thanks to Beau on RBWG bus. Pours a clear gold with small white head. Aroma is strong floral pine hop and dank. Strong hop bite, pine, resiny finish, very bitter, really enjoyed this.
Thick and viscous with a deep malty character. The star of the show is the hopped bitterness that open up quickly with grapefruit and pine and never lets up.
22 oz bottle into a Chimay goblet.
A: Pours a dark copper color. The head is a finger off-white shade with poor retention. It’s disappointing how quickly the head fades; though on the positive side, it does manage to leave a bit of lacing behind.
S: Right from the start, it brings the dank, citrusy hops in a big way. Citrusy, mainly - in fact, there are some solid tropical fruit notes emanating. There’s also some ’cat pee’, which is never a bad thing in small doses. Maybe there’s a bit more malt than I really prefer from the style, but this definitely succeeds as a ’total package’.
T: The slight malt sweetness that hits first quickly gives way to an onslaught of bitter grapefruit rind. Make no mistake, this is hella grapefruity. It becomes maltier during the finish, displaying notes of caramel, dough, toffee, and brown sugar. My problem is that there isn’t much to tie together the big grapefruit with the malt backbone. It’s just like cosmicevan said, this is a really sappy, syrupy kind of beer - and that’s not what I want from the style.
M: Well carbonated, enough to poke through the thick body - in fact, enough to overpower the palate, even. One feature I really like: hop resins seem to accumulate on the palate, bringing more and more bitterness as more is imbibed. I’m torn between giving this a great score due to the hop resin or a poor score due to the rampant overcarbonation. Meh, I’ll split the difference - it’s a bit unpleasant feeling at first, but once the carbonation slows down, it develops a nice (if too sweet) texture.
O: I’m shocked this is a 100. SHOCKED I SAY! Okay, maybe not: this is a big ol’ grapefruit bomb, which means if you like big ol’ grapefruit bombs, you’re going to really like this. Me, I only like them situationally (ie. Nugget Nectar), with my preference being leaner, less sweet DIPAs. As it stands, I’m still disappointed by this. Don’t avoid this, just curb your expectations.
Bomber from Drake, thanks Dan! Shared with ck1 on Spit Cup weekend. Pours orangey amber with a white head. Aroma has sweet pine and citrus. Taste has sweet pine, citrus, heavy resin with light caramel. A bit of alcohol. Finishes sweetly bitter, with alcohol. Decent. But not great. 14.4
Deep very hazy golden and light copper coloured body with a nice, two centimetre tall microfoamed just off-white head. Aroma of nice crisp grapefruit and piney hops with a bit of alcohol, passionfruit, malt, caramel and sugar notes coming from the nose as well. Full-bodied; Rich malt body with a bright sweetness from fruit and a pungent but well-balanced hop bite showing pine and grapefruit predominately. Aftertaste shows some bright bitter qualities from the hops with a lot of sweetness, and a very nice mellow malty character that balances out nicely. Overall, a very nicely balanced, well flavoured and nuanced Imperial IPA with no cloying flavours nor pungency, but a solid alcohol presence, some light sweetness and a good option, not as great as I was expecting, but good, for sure. I sampled this 65 cL bottle purchased from Whole Foods in Tyson’s Corner (Falls Church), Virginia on 10-June-2014 for US$7,99 sampled at home in Washington on 06-December-2014.
The bottle has a faded stamp of "8 12 14" 12 AUG 2014? Just under two months old if this is the case.
Appearance: Fairly short white head that looks somewhat creamy with some larger bubbles in it. The body is a hazy orange and bronze color.
Aroma: I get a fresh cut grapefruit scent, a bit of a grassy aroma, and slightly catty. There is a bit of mango that peeps in every now and then too.
Taste: There is a rustic bread crust flavor right up front, followed by an earthy woody flavor. There is a bit of pine in the aftertaste. As the beer warms up a bit in he glass that pine character starts to dominate a lot more and becomes the primary flavor.
Palate: It has good bitterness without being overwhelming or difficult to drink. It sits in the medium body range with a good amount of malt backbone without feeling overly sweet. It does a very good job of highlighting hop bitterness but balancing (not equalizing) the malt character.
Overall: The beer was nice but it wasn’t fantastic. There wasn’t a whole lot of hop flavor presence in comparison to the overall bitterness of the beer. Perhaps that was the goal of the beer, given the name "Bitter Valentine." It’s not a beer that will be on my radar in the future.
"A gem from Thomassova. By the name of the beer, I’d think this came out a month before VDay, but it sure tastes and smells fresh. Big, dank hops...reminiscent of Maharaja, but a little lighter. Tropical fruit, pine, and orange peel with a malty backbone that only shows when the beer warms. Really nice IIPA."
Draft at Churchkey. Clear bright golden amber color, big fluffy white head with good retention and lacing. Nice aroma of mixed tropical fruit, citrus. Taste is pineapple, mango. Delicious.
Gold in color... Aroma of tropical fruit, citrus hops... Flavor is fairly dry for an east coast IPA, but well balanced with sweet caramel malts, citrus hops... Mouthfeel is crisp, solid double IPA, could have fooled me as a west coast IPA... Dry hoppy finish. Nice beer
Bomber-SA. Bright orange-gold with small white head. A: huge hops, pine and resin. Musky. T: musky pine and floral hops. Bold. Lingering bitter aftertaste as expected. Very good.
22oz bottle in a teku. Pours deep, hazy copper with a lacy, off-white head. Aroma of resinous and floral and citrusy hops, caramel and pale malts, and some dough. Flavor mainly of the hops, but enough maltiness to balance them out. Average texture. A solid beer for the style.
22 ounce bottle. Pours a clear darker gold with a decent white head. Big aroma of citrus, pine, and grass. Taste is grapefruit, grapefruit, pine, grass, and malt. Excellent.
5 20 14. 22 oz bottle into a teku. Clear dark amber body with a finger of light tan foam, tons of lacing. Nose is resinous pine, grass, and loads of citrus. Pretty typical DIPA nose but really nice. Taste is similar, sticky resin and pine with some grapefruit. Dry and bitter yet juicy and fresh hops. This is a really nice DIPA. Always wanted to try this one.
Malty hoppy delicious beer. Another super rare beer happy to try. It has a beautiful aroma
Poured from a bottle. Clear golden color, medium frothy white head. Nice pine and oil aroma. Medium body with a hops and oil flavor with a nice finish.
Aroma of hops and fruit, caramel color with a lasting well laced white head. Great taste of fruit, and hops with an oily feel and a bitter sweet palate.
Tap. Clear rusty bright orange. Lots of nice citrus, melon, soft vanilla notes, and slight fruity juiciness. Flavor is very similar, juicy citrus, balanced, but very hop forward and lacking gross malt heaviness. Slick light to medium body. Lovely