Brooklyn Blast

Brewed by Brooklyn Brewery
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Brooklyn, New York USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip

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Draught at Cole’s in Buffalo, NY. Pours a clear bubbly golden-yellow with a small diminishing white head. Very nice aroma with lots of citrus hops, nicely balanced by sweet malt and some fruit. Flavour of piney and citrusy hops with just enough sweet malt to balance it out and a nice bitter finish. Can’t taste the alcohol at all but you can feel it. Medium bodied. Wow, this was a very nice surprise -- I loved it!

Draught. At Cole’s in Buffalo. Goiden pour, average off-white head. Nice resin and lemon pith bitter hop aroma, herbal and dry, with dusty malt and alcohol. Taste - well yes, it’s bitter all right, all sorts of bitter - citrus zest, herbal UK almost sour hop character, strong booze burn, dusty floral sweet malt - long bitter finish - I really liked it. Average body, astringency and carbonation, some acidity crept in as it warmed - it seemed strangely balanced considering it had a very long bitter herbal/hoppy linger. I enjoyed this quite a bit, but it’s not one to gulp.

On tap, Cole’s, Buffalo. Dark yellow, small white head. Neat strong grapefruit aroma - I don’t care for grapefruit, but this was awesome. Unfortunately, the taste shared the same fresh biting into a grapefruit taste, and that really turned me off. I like grapefruit characteristics in my hops as a compliment, but not when the entire beer tastes like it. Burning alcohol backs that up in what became not terrible enjoyable. Decent beer, just not for me.

GABF 2006: Clear light golden color with off-white head. Hop foward aroma of pine and citrus with a good malt base. Again flavor pine and citrus with a malt back bone stiff enough to balnce the beer.

Sampled at Real Beer Expo (Rochester). Cask. Med. golden with a slight haze and no head. Lots ofhops on the nose: floral and citrus. Esters (pear, pineapple, tropical fruit). Med. carbonation and med. body. Sweet malt, citrusy hops up front. Pineapple, blood oranges, and tropical fruits follow. Good stuff.

2 or 3 draught pints at Redbones on 9/25/06.
A lightly hazy, peach-marigold body, with paler straw undertones, signifies low filtration. Bubbles course upwards quite furiously, creating a white/off-white head that is small, and shows low to moderate retention, and light, patchy lacing.
Fruity hops distinguish the aroma, showing peaches, tropical fruits, nectarines and melon, with quite a fair strength. Dry leafiness follows, with a further touch of light lemon zestiness that quickly transitions in to a malt profile reminding me of angel food cake. Sweet sugars emerge rapidly as it warms, battling back the citrus and melon notes. But the sugars are pale and little, if anthing, in the way of heavy caramel comes through, fortunately. The aroma lingers, with the hops about on par with the malt, as the liquid recedes, but the initial excitement of the hop aroma is lost on a less-than-complex profile as things settle out. It leans heavily on melon and peach notes, with bitter orange/lemon/grapefruit providing most of the bittering strength. Alcohol is hidden, though and I would not have guessed this to be 8% at all.
Peachy/citrusy hops are again quite prominent in the flavor, with a moderate carbonation washing away the initial flavor, but with this, comes a blanket of pale sugars. At 8% and this drinkability (quite high), you could hardly begin to call it underattenuated, but it just has that texture that sort of coats the palate, in a comforting way, adding layers of malt sugar and thusly, sweetness. Cotton candy certainly comes to mind. Much like a pale Chouffe beer, it just is either to your liking or it is not. For my money, I find it detracts from a crisp, dry finish; what I seek in an IPA. While I don’t mean to make it sound thick, sugary and heavy, it just wants for a bit more palate-cleansing dryness. Hop bitterness, furthermore, outshines the flavor, as the beer wears on, throwing too much acidity on the finish. Still, the initial hop flavor and livliness, coupled with the clean, pale malts and lack of crystal malt certainly provides an excellent base and despite my heavy commentary, I had no problem drinking 2 pints. A touch of wateriness is noted towards the end. No alcohol noted.

Cask. Lightly hazed golden ale with a thin creamy white head. Nice dry hoping with notes of oranges and pineapples. In mouth, a citrusy IPA with noes of blood oranges, mint, berries. Short bitterness, but well balanced. Light alcohol in finish. The Real Beer Expo - Rochester, NY, Oct. 21, 2006.

[draft @ Bukowski’s] Pours a slightly hazy yellow color, with a good sized white head. Leaves quite a bit behind on the glass. Aroma is citrusy, with some nice fruitiness. Flavors are more citrus hops, with grapefruit, orange and some malty sweetness. Overall, a nice beer- hops are front and center, but not too aggressive. Very well balanced.

(cask @ The Real Beer Expo - Rochester, NY) Light amber in color with a puffy white head. Aroma is loaded with hops and lots of citrus notes including orange, pineapple, and clove. Flavor is loaded with hops and citrus flavors. Lots of orange in the beginning of the flavor with lots of hops and floral notes. Finish is very smooth and not that bitter. One amazing beer.

Poured light amber with a thick off white head in the sampler glass. Hints of orange, citrus, graitfruit, caramel and currant were in the aroma. Taste was dominated by orange complimented by the citrus, and graitfruit. This was quite malty and not quite hoppy enough for me. That being said it was a very good beer.