SamGamgee (1396), Santa Cruz (La Selva), California, USA May 25, 2009 22oz bottle from the february 2009 release. Orange amber with a medium off-white head. Honey sweetness, light crystal malt, pine, grapefruit, and sticky hop aromas. The flavor is sweet but has an intense enough hop bitterness and lots of juicy grapefruit and pine flavors. Full bodied with medium carbonation. For being on the sweet side, its really not sticky or cloying, probably due to the extreme amount of iso-alpha acid. The balance is pretty good for its size as well. The alcohol is actually very well hidden. To me, this is one of the better big, sweet IIPAs. aguyintx66 (78), Humble, Texas, USA May 19, 2009 Bottle. Pours a amber orange color with a tan head. a sweet aroma of hops and grapfruit. Taste is citrus then alcohol with a bitter finish. shanepardue (107), Raytown, Missouri, USA May 18, 2009 Very strong aroma of hoppy greatness with a high alcoholic content. floral accents on a big beer such as this make it very enjoyable! joeneugs (289), Livermore, California, USA May 18, 2009 Amber colored with a large tan head. It has a very sweet aroma of caramel, peaches, tangerines, and grapefruit. Not too syrupy and low on carbonation. Very caramely and bitter with orange peel, peaches, and raisins. This is quite a sweet and malty IIPA, intense, but it lacks a distictive edge. dmschefke (371), Eastpointe, Michigan, USA May 17, 2009 Pours an amber orange with thick white head. Aroma is a perfect balance of hops if not mostly citrus. Hints of pine, caramel, and slight grass noted. Flavor is wonderful, matching the aroma with a bit of spice and floral accents also. Very solid IIPA and so very happy this is available easily for me. I believe it needed the 3 months to mellow also at over 10% ABV, because it isn’t a bit hot compared to what I was hearing. Todeon (315), Sweden May 17, 2009 Bomber. Pours a nice golden color with a thick white head. Aroma is really fruity with plenty of caramel and malt. Some citrus to. Taste is citrus and grapefruit with a thick layer of caramellmalt and candy notes. The hops seems a bit faded in this one, maybe an old bottle. Finishes pretty dry and bitter. bblack99 (197), Kansas City, Missouri, USA May 14, 2009 Batch 9, 2009. 10+% ABV. Pours a clear orange-amber color with a bright white bubbly head. Good proportions!
Wild aroma blasts out of the bottle upon opening and smells of roasted nuts and something a bit strange -- maybe peach?
Flavor also dances through about 50 different complexities with so many hops included. Strong peppery punch, floral sweetness, and a severe bitter bite! GuanoBoy (7), West Virginia, USA does not count May 14, 2009 Updated: Jul 9, 2009Batch 10. Cold at first, aroma was muted other than alcohol and Belgian tropical/banana/bubble gum aroma. As it warmed/breathed, aroma developed: alcohol, some lemon and orange oil, spruce, became progressively more melonly, slight banana and bubble gum, big fruit roll ups, some fresh very ripe peaches and some dried strawberry; with lots of extra, general hoppiness. Taste was much the same, with a bit of earthy graininess, spalt or something; bitter, semidry with alcohol. Color was brilliant light brown/orange/red. Palate was slightly sweet, firm, while still thin and dry enough to be drinkable
|