Anderson Valley 20th Anniversary Imperial IPA

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

Amber color with a moderate cream colored head. Aromas are hop centric with pine and a bit of apricot. Full feel. Pale malts, and a earthy hops in the flavors. Bitterness continues to build throughout the experience. I gets a bit to much by the end and I start to beg for a reprieve. A bitter hopshead brew.

Bottle: Copper bronze, thick white head and nice white lacing. Nose of amarillo and chinook, sharp bitter rind and melon notes along with....cheddar? Flavor is sweet, plenty of malt, light bitterness and a cloying mouthfeel. Piney finish. Decent, too sweet though.

Bottle from Party Source. Poured a clear copper color with an average frothy off-white head that mostly lasted with excellent lacing. Moderate to heavy complex citrus hoppy aroma with a alcohol tone. Medium to heavy body with a slick texture and soft carbonation. Medium to heavy bittersweet flavor with a medium to heavy bitter and small alcohol bite finish of moderate duration. This is a good beer.

Draft @ AVBC, Boonville, CA. Pours a deep golden color with a small off-white head. has a malty floral hoppy aroma with hints of pine and citrus. Sweetish malty bitter hoppy flavor with hints of pine and citrus. Has a sweetish malty bitter hoppy finish.

Draft at Craft Ale House. Poured deep golden with dark straw edges and off-white head. Nose was heavy tangerine, pineapple, some juicy hops, mild breadiness. Palate was medium heft, with hefty tropical fruity hops, but I noted a lack of malt bill that served to slightly unbalance this one. I had this after a Green Flash IPA, and the Green Flash blew it away. Then again, Green Flash IPA blows away most IPAs, so that’s not surprising. A good, but not great beer.

A golden amber ale with a thick lacing off white head. Intense aroma of bready malt, pinhey hops, very floral, some menthiol, very nice. In mouth, a good biscuitty malt overlayed by intense c-hops, light grapefruits, pinhey and resinous. Rich and smooth I2PA with warming alcohol final. Bottle from Bottle Barn, tasted August 18, 2009.

Bomber. Piney hop backed by floral and citrus hop. Bright amber color with a beige head that’s decent. Rather full bodied with almost creamy carbonation. Flavor is probably light caramel which is completely overwhelmed by floral, pine and citrus hop. There is a fair balance in the finish, a little sweetness and a lot of hop. Seems fair to me, anyway. A smooth ale with something that should satisfy most HHs.

Bomber bottle from Jon, mucho thanks bud, and served in my GL IPA tulip:

Deep coppery sunset hue topped by a frothy off-white head and left excellent lace upon the glassware.
Aroma has notes of caramel and bready malt, resiny and piney hops, pink grapefruit and star fruit, sugar cane, clove and grains of paradise, and a mineral water vapour.
The taste starts moderately bitter and fruity before a rush of bready malt and grainy character comes to play, very balanced, perhaps too balanced. Nice hop spice and mineral finish adds to a complexity of palate.
The mouth feel is rounded and sharp on one side, soft and smooth on the other, matched the flavor profile exactly.

While some people want their DIPA to be bold and brash, I want mine big yet balanced and that is exactly what Anderson Valley delivers here. Mikey Likey A Lot, YuMmY iN mY tUmMy!