Anderson Valley 20th Anniversary Imperial IPA

Brewed by Anderson Valley Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Boonville, California USA

22oz bomber from SouthBay pours crystal clear copper with an initial two inch tan head. Nice looking brew. The aroma is classic grapefruit hops and mild malt sweetness. The combination creates a somewhat sweet grapefruit smell that is coupled to mild alcohol heat. The taste is initiated by some mild grapefruit hop bitterness and malty sweetness. Near midway the sweetness and the citrus hops create a brief sweet orange juice sensation. The taste then moves more and more hoppy as the grapefruit hops swing from late addition hop flavor to full boil grapefruit hop bitterness that peak in intensity at the finish. Solid tasting IIPA.

Bottle: Pours a clear copper with a tan head. Aroma, piny and earthy hops with some caramel malts. Flavor, caramel and pale malts up front, some pine and earthy hops on the finish. Nice bitter kick on the finish. A tasty brew.

22oz Bottle. Burnt orange color with a fine head. Earthy malts and lots of hops waft out of the glass. Grapefruit, some onion, dankness. A rather dark and herbal shade of hops, with a light christmas tree touch. The flavor has a nice maltiness that shows similar earthy qualities. Moderately sweet, but seems well attenuated for the size. Ends with a bitter dryness and a light touch of alcohol. The hops are dense and citric, with a sharp pine in the backround, and an underlying spicy vegetable quality that holds them back from really shining. Full body with small, smooth carbonation, and a light stickiness coating the tongue in the finish, which last for a while. To end, ok, but nothing wowing me. I like their regular IPA better.

4/29/2008: Anderson Valley 20th Anniversary Imperial IPA pours a transparent gold color with a puffy and frothy beige head. The head provides fine, detailed lacing. Lots of lasting citrusy goodness provide a mouth-watering aroma. The flavor has a malty frontside immediately followed by lots of pine ad citrus hop bitterness. The bitterness keeps escalating as the beer slips down the throat. The alcohol is reserved and well-hidden amonsth the flavors. This beer has a medium-full body and a smooth texture. Overall this is a really good IPA. I’m glad to finally see an Imperial IPA that actually has some significate bitterness to accompany all of the hoppy flavors!

1 pt. 6 fl. oz. bottle (8.7% Alc. by Vol.) shared by Tmoney99. Thanks again Tom! Rating #71 for this beer...

22 oz bottle from Bevmo. Lots of citrus hops aromas. Orange, pineapple, tangerine. Some vanilla too. Flavor stays sweet at first. With creamy grapefruit flavors. The middle to the finish turns more grassy. With more grapefruit on the finish. Not Bad.

22 oz bottle. VERY NICE. Pours a nice cloudy amber / copper color. Aroma is nice and has a fruity smell to it. Has a thin lacey head. Flavor is very nice. Mild carbonation but an ultimately crisp flavor with proper bitterness.

22oz bottle. fairly recently bottled. pours bright copper with white head. aroma mild grapefruity and fusel alcohol notes. flavors are grapefruit, pine, biscuit, caramel, good bitterness but an alcohol sweet finish. decent, not really double ipa worthy, just really not well executed.

22oz bottle, no date. Clear orange copper with a two finger light yellowish head, pretty good retention. Tangerine and floral hops up front with a plenty of caramel malts to back it all. There is even a bit of resiny pine.Flavor is resiny pine again and tangerine dominating with quite a bit of bitterness, try as the ample sweet caramel malts may. Bitterness peaked at a 6-7 in the dry finish--some alcohol warmth is present. Low to moderate carbonation with a full body. Not the best DIPA I’ve had, but certainly not the worst--not as bad as what I’d been hearing about this brew.