Farmers Friend Irish Style Ales - Palisade Brewery - Colorado

So this is an aromatic beer to be sure, but the first thing that struck me about it was how watery it tasted. Very low on the Hop scale, probably a .5 or a 1, you can barely taste that there are even hops in here.

I would say that any taste this beer has is all up front, with very little on the back end. Not one I would personally recommend for all day type drinking, I would say this is much closer to an ale than anything else.

My fiancee was quick to point out that Irish style beers are supposed to be robust and distinctive, this beer doesn't really qualify. "it leaves something to be desired"

I give this a 2 out of 5 overall. This ain't your drunk uncle's beer. In fact, after a little discussion, we came to the conclusion that if we'd ordered this beer in a restaurant, we would have been disappointed.
Keep trying palisades.

Mongoose IPA - Hale's Ale - Seattle Wa

So, this beer smells really good. not quite as inviting as the snake river, but good. You can still catch a whiff of the Hops off of it. It's surprisingly sweeter than the first two, but still very good. still very hoppy. This reminds me more of the red truck in that it really hits you on the side of the tongue rather than all over. Very golden in color rather than the ruby of the Red Truck. I feel that it is sadly lacking on the back end.

A fine beer, I doubt I would make this a regular in my arsenal of beers, but if I ordered it in a bar, I would not have been disappointed.

Highish hop content, I would call it about a 3.25 out of 5.

As for overall quality of the beer, I would go probably a 3. A fine beer, but it wouldn't make my recommended beer list.

Snake River - Pale Ale - Jackson Hole, Wy

So this beer is delicious. You can tell from the photo, more golden in color than the red truck.
The aroma is inviting, you can just catch a whif of the hops there as you drink in the aroma.

The first sip is fantastic, kind of a hoppy vapor comes right off the beer as you sample it. It is something that for me, hits you all over the tongue, whereas the red truck was very much on the sides of the tongue for that bitterness.

Now this is a beer that I would drink regularly and be happy about it. I would say that if this beer left something to be desired, it's that there was a solid punch up front with not much in the back. It sort of reminds me of our waitress at dinner last night. But you know, the more I think about it, the more I almost don't care. This is like the "butterface" of beer. The front end of this thing is so good, that I don't really care how it finishes as long as I have some more.

So on a hoppiness scale, I'll call this guy a 4 out of 5.

For an overall, I'm inclined towards a 3.5 to a 4. Good, good beer. Nice work snake river.

Palisade Brewery - Red Truck IPA

So this is a very nice, very crisp beer. Not overly heavy on the Hops, but enough to qualify as an IPA.

It has a very mild scent, personally I like a little more upfront in my beers, but it's fine; there is a bit there. For me, most of the flavor (apart from the Hops) comes on the back end of this beer producing a quality finish.

So, on the scale of hoppiness, I would give this beer a 3 out of 5.

Overall, I would give this beer probably a 3 or a 3.5.

I wouldn't be dissappointed if I had to drink it on a regular basis. If you're just looking to get into IPAs, and want to start somewhere to get used to how hops affect the tast of a beer, you could certainly start in worse places. This is nowhere near the level of say the Siera Nevada Torpedo, that's just plain ridiculous. That said, this is a solid beer, and a solid IPA. Like most IPAs though, you probably could not drink this all day long, but it's a really nice break from standard beer.

If you're an IPA love like me however, I would say this is a solid beer, but not a stand out.