Arcadia Hop Rocket 11th Anniversary Ale

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

Draught at TJ’s: Aroma of hops, pine, resin, hop juice, slight grass, and slight citrus. Poured amber in color with a small, white head that diminished but lasted throughout. Clear. Sparkling. Good lacing. Flavor is heavily bitter. Tastes of hops, pine, spruce, resin, hop juice, slight grass, and slight toasted malts. Medium body. Dry texture. Average carbonation. Bitter hop finish is lightly dry. No hint of 9%ABV. Kinda like sucking on hon some hops.

This is an excellent offering of a double IPA from Arcadia. The beer pours a light amber color with a huge white head. The head leaves an abundance of lacing around the glass. The nose is full of hops, pine, grapefruit and bread. The body is strong, but smooth and enjoyable. The flavors are spicy, hoppy, well-balanced and delicious, with notes of grass, grapefruit, bread, pine and a hint of a floral character. The finish is spicy, dry and hoppy. This double IPA had quite the malt backbone for balance and ultimate enjoyment. This is certainly one of the better double IPAs out there.

Thank you Benny (wakeandbake)! Beautiful elixir. Crystal clear ruby, orange gold with a thick white head that fades to lacing. Aroma is wonderfully balanced of grapefruit, pine and floral hops with toasty malts. Flavor is bitter and clean. Palate is medium bodied and carbonation and has a nice bitter aftertaste. Overall, this is dangerous at 9%!

Golden orange color with a nice off-white head. I’m getting grapefruit and pine on the nose. Not as bitter as I was expecting it to be, but a nice mild bitterness. I don’t rate this as very extreme - maybe I’m jaded by all the others. But I’m getting more hop from the Arcadia Hopmouth. I enjoy this one, but I’d rather see it in a 6pack than a 4.

Pours deep amber into a shaker. Offwhite head with medium retention recedes to skim surface. Orange and resin aromas. Sticky sweet honey upfront with orange and grapefruit. Lasting weed resin finish. Alcohol is very well hidden.

Pours copper with minimal head. This head, however, makes for nice lacing. The malt is a little sour - which I’m not a big fan of. The hoppage, however, is magnificent. Bouquet of floral hops against a bitter and sweet malt backdrop.As it warms it has a sweet, sticky and dank characteristic about it. Very proto-cannabis.

Bottle. A hazy golden orange color boday with a thick fluffy light tan head, long lasting ,and leaving tuns of sticky lace. Aroma of big pungent hops,citrus,floral,spicy,and pine, a sweet sugary malt scent,and a hint of alcohol. Flavor is much the same, very hoppy and bitter, a nice fruity taste some orange, grapefruit and pineapple,toffee and hints of apple,and honey, quite a sweet malty backbone,but I like it, the alcohol is well hidden in the flavor, maybe the resiny pine finish is covering it up. Well carbonated, slick slightly oily mouthfeel. This is a very good try, and a nice brew,better than expected. Arcadia does a nice job.

On tap at the Flying Saucer in KC. Pours a crystal clear, darker orange body with an inch thick, white, dense bumpy foam head that dissipates slowly and leaves some nice layered lacing. Aroma is mainly sweet, resiny citrus with some light earthy tones. A bit of sugary caramels as well as some light spruce, but definitely hop dominated. Mainly grapefruit, but some oranges as well. Flavor is very similar. Initially a slightly sugary citrus that grows in bitterness throughout. Some light biscuity caramels, but not enough to completely balance this out. Finishes with lots of grapefruit and earth. Palate is medium bodied and somewhat oily. Overall, straightforward with an enjoyeable hop bitterness, but not completely balanced. Nice flavor, just unexciting. I don’t know...maybe I’m expecting too much out of DIPA’s these days.