Bad Elf
February 5th, 2008
Bad Elf (subtitled "Winter’s Ale") is an English IPA from Ridgeway Brewing by way of Shelton Brothers. Their site says this about the beer:
Olde England meets the New World in this strong, warming golden ale. A generous amount of famous English malt is masterfully balanced with an astounding 45 ounces of fresh hops – including English Cascade – per barrel.
At 6% alcohol, it’s not too heavy… but it’s not a session beer, either.
Appearance: Honey-orange, fairly clear. Fizzy white head that dissipated quickly.
Smell: English hops—that spicy, bitter character like a Cascade but no real citrus. [Wrote that before I saw the "English Cascade" in the website description.] Bitter toasty biscuit.
Taste: Strongly bitter over caramel, slightly roasty malt. Nicely done version of the style; fairly classic if a little vanilla.
Mouthfeel: A bit shy of medium-bodied, but with a nice presence.
Overall: My notes were a bit sparse, but it’s a good beer. Despite the whole "Bad" theme to the name (as with the other beers in the series), it’s not a flamboyant beer at all.
On BeerAdvocate, it scores a grade of B+. On RateBeer, it scores 3.06 out of 5, and is in their 49th percentile.
