Arcadia Hop Rocket 11th Anniversary Ale

Brewed by Arcadia Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Battle Creek, Michigan USA

Taster at The Mondial de la biere09 in Montreal. The color is a hazy amber with a thin beige head. Th aroma is hoopy but not very strong. The taste is also of hops, pine fruits and to finish vegy. The bitterness was weak.

Grapefruity, piney, resinous. Good DIPA from arcadia finally. Mine was not as carbonated as I would have liked. Paid $3.50 for a 12 oz= a bit pricey. Worth a try, one of the better ones but too much $ with all the competition.

12oz bottle. Small off-white head atop muddy apple cider body. Aroma is moderately sweet, pineapple, grapefruit, some caramel. Taste is moderately sweet, pineapple, orange/grapefruit, some bread, light raisin. Some alcohol warming. Sticky medium-full body, some resin. As it warms, the flavors turn something into a muddled mess, with more booziness and some astringency creeping in.

Bottled. A hazy amber beer with an orangey head. The aroma has strong notes of grass, hops, grapefruit, and caramel - lovely hoppy. The flavor is very sweet with strong notes of hops, grass, and grapefruit, leading to a very dry grassy finish.

20091016 12oz bottle from State Line. Clouded but bright bronze with short, lasting white head. It looks just as I would hope a DIPA to look. Aroma is sturdy with a yeasty doughnut dough maltiness and pleasant blend of floral and citrus hops as well as a light bubblegum note and vegetal notes. Full and creamy body with substantial heft and a lingering stickiness. Flavor is boozy and rich from front to middle, borderline barleywine, but finishing with a burst of citrus and prickly pine hops. More vegetal with temp as well as a peppery alcohol note. Good, but maybe not four bucks for twelve ounces good. I ended up with some weird numbers on this one.

Pours a nice darkish orange with a thin, creamy white head that has good retention. Aroma is sweet citrus and floral notes up front, leading into some caramel, bready and grainy malts as well as some light peppery yeast. Flavor is tangerine, blood orange, medium caramel, toasty biscuit, cereal grain notes, slightly sweet toasty bread crust, and just a hint of lemon. Finishes with floral hops, a little grapefruit and resinous hops make a showing. Palate is medium bodied and pretty creamy throughout with a slightly slick feel on the lips. This is a really nice IIPA

Pours a cloudy, glowing orange color. Huge puffy head. Glows bright from the inside like primordial amber. The aroma is a big, bold flowery hop. Notes of spicy orange peel and tangerine. (It uses Summit hops, which is one of the few beers I’ve had that uses them.) Has a rich, rye-like base in the aroma. It’s sweet and estery and magnificent. Unreal. The taste is sweet tangerine and orange with a hint of grapefruit. It’s like a rich, bready base with a kind of citrusy (Five Alive?) flavor on top. But the malt is dark like a bitter rye bread. Just this side of perfect. The feel is creamy and yet oily like an Imperial Stout or a barleywine. It’s substantial and doesn’t let you forget it’s there. This is a goddamn fantastic beer. A masterpiece.

Bottle. Pours a dark redish orange color with a small white head. Nose is big piney hops with some crisp buscuity and syrupy malt notes. Palate is full and active. Flavors of big piney resiny hops with a nice malt backbone that is sweet and full.