Carolina 11th Anniversary Imperial IPA

Formerly brewed at Carolina Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Holly Springs, North Carolina USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

UPDATED: DEC 15, 2009
Name: 11th Anniversary
Date: March 18, 2007
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting
Appearance: clear dark amber, wispy white head, drippy lace
Aroma: earthy hop aroma with slightly sweet caramel malt
Body: sticky sweet body
Flavor: lots of bitter hop flavor, caramel malts add some balance, only a hint of sweetness

Name: 11th Anniversary
Date: March 15, 2008
Mode: bottle
Source: tasting
Score: 3.1 to 3.5
Aroma: sweet crystal and pine aroma with extra caramel sweetness
Flavor: big sweet malt flavor with sticky caramel and crystal malt, candy sweetness, lots of hops for balance, touch of hot caramel

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 7/10; Overall: 14/20
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: *** /4

Name: IIPA
Date: December 11, 2009
Mode: Growler
Source: Tasting
Appearance: clear orange, wispy off white head
Aroma: big sweet pine and crystal aroma, nice fruity orange and tangerine
Flavor: sweet crystal malt flavor, lots of sweet pine, fruity citrus, touch of warmth, light balancing bitterness

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 15/20
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: *** /4

(12oz bottle, bottled 6/28/06, thanks wilkie) Medium beige head atop cloudy copper body. Aroma is moderately sweet, pine, grapefruit, caramel, cookie, light lemon peel. Taste is moderately sweet, grapefruit, caramel, pine, some cantaloupe, floral, cookie, alcohol. Resiny, medium-full body, light acidity. Not as fresh as I’d like from an IIPA, but there’s still plenty of hoppiness, and I seem to have gotten a fuller maltiness than people who had it earlier.

12oz bottle shared courtesy of the other Tom. Poured a medium golden/amber color with a small sized off white head. Aromas of floral hops, pine, some citrus rinds, and earthy. Tastes of citrus, caramel, tropical fruits, and pineapples. Medium alcohol in the finish.

Pours a transparent copper bronze with a well-lacing frothy off-white head. Aroma of lightly sweet pale malt with a touch of earthy piny hops. Body starts fairly full, caramely malty and sweet with a touch of earthy cardboardy, slightly oxidized notes toward a crisp finish. A pretty decent imperial IPA that would be better if it were fresher.

12 oz bottle from ucusty. Strong grapefruit aroma with some sweet tropical fruit and malt. Pours orange with a light haze and a thin head. Flavor is more grapefruit up front with a touch of fruity malt. Mostly bitter and hoppy in the finish though. The bitterness lingers and coats the mouth. Pretty damn enjoyable actually.

Bottle courtesy of ucusty. Pours a hazy orange-amber with an average size lasting frothy off-white head. Nice hoppy aroma (resiny & piney) backed by caramel malt. Flavour of resiny hops, caramel malt, light alcohol and a long bitter finish. Well balanced. Medium bodied. pretty good stuff, I’d get this again for sure.

Poured a hazy amber color with a medium off-white head. Nice citrus hop forward aroma with a strong caramel malt base. Mix of aged caramel malt and piney hops for flavor. Moderate bitterness on the finish with some alochol warmth. Semi-dry and medium-full body.

Bottle: Dirty amber, dark, large frothy off-white head, attractive lacing.   Good dose of hop juice on the nose.   Subtle citrus peel as well.   Sweetened hop juice on the tongue.   Decent malt base, certainly not all that bitter.   Well balanced.   Not as malt forward as the Highland Imperial Kashmir I had the other night, but instead a good hop bite that doesn’t sting the tongue.   Quite flavorful without being overly bitter.   This one is pretty damn enjoyable I must say.   Probably falls in line moreso with an IIPA than most.   I am still a big sucker for the heavy malt examples, but this one still holds its own.   The biggest compliment I can give this is the fact that while its quite flavorful, with a good malt base, its not out of balance like so many west coast examples that seem to forget to add additional malt to their DOUBLE IPAs.   This one seems a little truer to style.   Body and mouthfeel are moderate to full.   Lingering citrus peel and hop bitterness on the exit.   I must say, a good example of the style.   Thanks Tom for the bottle!

Thanks to Tom for sharing at a tasting. Pours a lightly hazy orange amber with a medium bubbly off white lacing head. Aroma of pine, grapefruit, nice malty sweet nose, caramel and orange. Flavor of pine, grapefruit, toasted malt, moderate hop bitterness, dry and well done.

Big sample from a growler at the ORF pre-release tasting. Pours pretty much clear dark yellow with a rocky, white head. Smell is ultra-fresh, dank hops. Lots of orange and grapefruit peel, grapefruit sections. Some white pepper and sage. Taste is piney hops, resiny hops, candied orange sections. 8%+ is very well hidden.