Alley Kat Bad Hare Day

Brewed by Alley Kat Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Edmonton, Canada

Bottle courtesy of Sherbrooke Liquor Store, thanks man!
Hazy dark color, with creamy head, nice lace. Nice resiny aroma, caramel, toffee, creamy. Medium body, toffee flavor, strong but with limited sweetness, and quite strong bitterness, not extreme, a bit resiny; touch of sweet nuts. The final is also medium, for a double IPA. Good.

courtesy of fiulijn - cloudy reddish-amber colour with a firm and long lasting beige foam; aroma of apricot and cream; very aromatic bitterness, creamy mouthfeel, medium-bodied, fair carbonation and solidly bitter; long fruity bitterness

My Bottom Line:
This enjoyable Double IPA proposes a juicy fruitiness within streaming alcohol heat, as floral, resinous hoppiness expresses itself starkly.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A lofty head of foam bobs atop the the clear, fiery amber.
-The fruitiness is redolent of apricots, orange pith and other citrus fruit.
-The flavor profile is balanced throughout.
-The soft bubbling and cushiony roundness fit together quite well.
-The finishing hop bitterness is also earthy and wooden, and never too portentous, as is often customary in this style.
-That’s a lot of alcohol showing for a 7.8% abv brew.
-The sweetness is not necessarily caramelized.

Bottle; thx Mike!!

Pint on tap @ Hop In Brew, rated real time on my PDA. Dark amber, almost orange. Pretty foamy out of the tap but settles to a trace. Very light fruity hop aroma. Flavour is more wood, and spruce than grapefruit. Fruit is moe apricot and orange juice. Although not an aggressive hop attack the toungue feels the acumulating IBUs. Nice fruity hop finish. High level of fruit in the aftertaste. Like eating an orange laced with hops.

Hazy orange amber, thick vanilla head. Very big resinous hop aroma, a hint of underlying sweet malt (you can smell the freshness here!). Woody resinous hop character dominates, although is well supported by underlying sweet soft maltiness. Very bitter finish. Solid.

Bottled 341ml. Courtesy of DuffMan. Appearance: It pours a hazy amber beer with an average-sized beige head. Good lacework. Aroma: Resiny hops, chestnuts, raisins, walnuts, caramel, clotted cream and pineapple. Flavor and palate: Good bitterness. Macadamia nuts sneaking in. Maple syrup, chestnuts and caramel showing up. Nice hop profile. Earthy. Faintly soapy. A lot of raisins appearing on the swallow. Bitter finish. Overall impression: A decent Imperial IPA without the grapefruit, pine needle-notes. Thanks a lot DuffMan!

341ml brown bottle. The beer pours orange/amber colour, bright. The head is quite impressive, beige in colour, well formed, frothy and at least two fingers in height. Clingy lacing. Resiny hops jump right out, notes of pine and lighter notes of grapefruit. Flavour has inital spicy hops, notes of citrus. Malts are in the background with some caramel notes. Finishes with grapefruit notes. Moderate bitterness. Very happy my local micro is doing a DIPA. Thank you Alley Kat and thank you Sherbrooke!

***review from May 8, 2008***
Poured out a dark amber beer with a good sized white cap, good retention and light lacing. The aroma is grapefruity, apricot and herbal that seems to lean on a hint of mint and has a decent floral fragrance. Background malts. The taste isn’t that bad but it is below the average american styled IIPA’s and I do notice the alcohol a bit too much, but this is not a bad thing, it’s just a direct comparison to others. Grapefruit, herbal hops, something odd that I can’t nail down, weak malts that do the job but could have more of a backbone. Solid bitterness. Nice swish gives a lively but soft mouth feel. Just got a bit of extra sweet candy (first time I really noticed it was right near the emptying of the glass. Fairly lengthy herbal and candy (weaker of the two) bitter aftertaste. Drinks very well when on the warm side! A decent representation of an IIPA but unfortunately it does not match up against others. That being said, I may get some more as it is easy to drink, it’s only 7.8% and it is a local product. Support your local breweries!