Arcadia Hop Rocket 11th Anniversary Ale

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

Pours a murky orange color with thin white head. Aroma is of hops, caramel and citrus. Very balanced taste, very hoppy and sweet malt backbone. Finish is slightly bitter with a hint of honey. This one is very smooth, no way would I guess it was 9%.

Bottle from D’s Six Pax. I only paid $2.50 for this, surprisingly enough. Pours clear golden orange, off white head. Aroma is hoppy and fuzzy with sweet citrus and kiwi. I smell caramel but no peat, so we’re off to a good start. Flavor is hoppy, bittter, caramel, vanilla, some fruit. Could stand to be crisper and more floral, but overall I’m not complaining!

Bottle from acrdz. Brown orange with a thin bubbly head. Some floaties. Nice aroma of grapefruit, orange, and tropical fruit. Big citrus. Pale malt lends a fruity bread like aspect to the aroma. Very nice. Wow, big bitter, looks to be brewed in the West Coast style, as the hop profile is bigger than a lot of others from this region. Floral, grapefruit rinds, pepper are all in the bitterness profile. The softer fruity bread like aspect comes through to balance off the palate, but a peppery perfume lingers in the mouth and a little alcohol makes it’s presence known. I would drink this if it were available to me rather frequently.

12 oz bottle. Foggy amber with a white head that leaves lacy sheets. Nose is orange pineapple and caramel. Medium light with a fluffy mouthfeel. Taste is muted grapefruit, apple and toffee. Dries with pine sap; a touch too bitter and perfumy.

Pours a golden amber color with lacing. The aroma is very citrusy with some crystal malts. The flavor falls a little short of the aroma and doesn’t have a lively hoppiness that makes me go "Wow!", but a more subdued slightly annoying hop bitter. It finishes dry and well. Overall, an all right beer.

12oz. bottle. Aroma is immediately rife with fruity, floral hops, citric and strongly fragrant, along with lighter, sugary malt notes and suggestions of pine needles, tangerine, orange and faint alcohol, which becomes a bit more apparent as it warms, along with a certain faintly doughy, cake-like character. Hazy golden amber in color with a slight but lasting head. Flavor is pretty well dominated by the hop profile, bringing a dose of fresh citrus including orange, grapefruit and pineapple, grassy spice and a strong amount of bitterness late, also seeing just enough honeyish malt sweetness here to keep things in line, finishing dry and bitter with a dash of peppery alcoholic fire. Resinous, gently acidic and warming on the palate with a full body. This is a pretty fresh batch, seemingly. Very flavorful and mostly in balance. Thanks to Gregis for picking some of this up for me.

12 oz. bottle courtesy of drewbeerme; thanks Andrew. Pours a slightly hazy dark golden color with a small but lasting creamy off white head. The aroma is big citrus hops, floral, and light moderately sweet caramel malt. The flavor is moderately sweet caramel malt and loads of citrus hops. At the tail end I do get some alcohol but its not distracting. This one surprised me a bit because I am used to being underwhelmed by this brewery.

bottle. Aroma has notes of grass, flowers, citrus, caramel. Hazy medium orange amber hue with an average sized foamy off-white head that mostly diminished but left good lace. Flavor is sweet and floral then finishes crisp and bitter. Palate is clean and medium bodied. Sparkling soft carbonation. Very surprised with this one. A top notch DIPA that should be enjoyed as fresh as possible. Nice and clean, very fresh and crispy. Not too bitter and very refreshing. The more I drink the more I like it. Very surprising and very good.