Central City Imperial IPA

Brewed by Central City Brewing
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Surrey, Canada

Serve in Shaker, Snifter

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Draught at the brewpub, 9.5% ABV, as Imperial IPA
Red amber color; small creamy head. Very nice hoppy, fruity aroma; light bergamot and cedar. Good body strength; strong toffee and caramel flavor, mostly dry (luckily, there is not much residual sweetness); strong hopping, but well blended in this brew; resins, pine needles, a bit of fruitiness, and a rustic, sweaty touch too.
Excellent hop brew. Balance and power.

UPDATED: SEP 23, 2007 Draught at the brewery: Bright amber. Woody, flowery, powdery hop nose. Sweet, soft sugars temper resiny hops, with hints of pine, melon, grapefruit, mandarin. Smooth but insistent bitterness washes over the palate. Very fresh hop character and an incredible sense of balance.

Cask at GCBF: Vibrant, hazy amber. Assertive chinooky, amarilloish aroma. Sweet and fruity character, with amarillo and pommelo and some sugary notes to balance it off. Nice brew with a good sense of balance. Ar 7 Ap 4 Fl 8 P 4 O 16 = 3.9

In short: A heavy caramelized citrusy IPA of high intensity, eh. Very good, eh
How: Bottle 22oz, eh. Consumed relatively fresh, approximately 2 months after the bottle version was released, first and only bottling at the moment, eh
The look: Clear amber-copper body topped by a medium beige head with medium retention, eh
In long: Nose is heavy on the citrusy fruits front with also a strong hops resin character, eh. Taste has a solid caramelized malts body, very sweet but not bothersome because it is rich creamy caramelized sweetness and doesn’t feel ‘sugary’, eh. This fine malt extraction almost steals the spotlight from the citrusy hops, eh. The hopping is intensely citrusy and also rather resinous, eh. Bitterness sensation is pretty high and it is also a bitterness with a sticky sensation, eh. This is a well balanced tasty IPA, very heavy on the malt front, almost feels like a toned down SN Bigfoot, eh. I usually prefer my Double IPAs a bit more ‘refreshing’ (à-la Hill Farmstead) but as far as heavy sipper-style IPAs are concerned, this is a very good offering, eh. And in order to honor this fine Canadian beer I decided to write this rating in our native Canadian language, he. I hope you can understand it, eh.

Nose is balanced yet hoppy. Pine, citrus, and floral hops on top of toffee and caramel malts. Some spicy hop notes and a touch of alcohol as well. Pours amber with a decent creamy head, lightly hazy as well. Flavors of pine and floral hops, citrus underneath, spicy peppery hops in there as well as flavors of caramel and toffee without much lingering sweetness. Dry spicy finish. Drinks well.

GCBF 2010, on cask. Burnt orange, hazy. Huge juniper aroma. Enormously hoppy, stemmy, leafy, conifer aromas with earthy/woody elements. Crazy good stuff!

Gorgeous pour: a thick mass of foam sits atop a bedrock of amber fluid. The head lasts long and leaves light lacing. Piquant fresh hop aroma. Cannabis forward in nose and taste. Body avoids the syrupy thickness that can plague I2PAs. It is too one-dimensional to be big-bodied, but I welcome the refreshingly light nature of a beer with 8.5%ABV. I could drink several of these in succession. The hop assault kicks ass, beating any residual malt into oblivion. I like that, which is why I think this is overall a killer beer. (from growler procured from brewery Nov 5)

Imperial IPA for Autism: Strong citrus and spicy pine hop notes complement the thick chewy toffee and caramel malt aromas in the nose. Clear burnished copper coloured body is topped by a decent off white head that recedes to cover with some lacing. Flavour features all the elements of the aroma but comes down a bit on the sweet side. Medium body is slightly watery with somewhat low carbonation. I’d prefer stronger carbonation or a thicker maltiness to take this to the next level. Tulip glass. Just above fridge temperature. Bottle purchased at Crosstown Liquor Store downtown in March 2013.

GCBF cask conditioned sample. Big bubbles. Orange. strong hop nose. Good hop body but hard to believe that it is anywhere near 100 IBUS; and this is cask conditioned too!

UPDATED: APR 17, 2013 650mL bottle as Central City Imperial IPA, at 9.5% ABV, pours a hazy golden orange with a small off-white head. Aroma of loads of grapefruit, tropical fruits (mangos especially), boatloads of citrus hops and generous caramel malt to back. Flavour is remarkably well-balanced, with no shortage of palate-barraging citrus hops, mangos, pineapples, and a big caramel malt backbone. Exceedingly well-balanced and still very hoppy - absolutely delightful. This beer has progressed impressively over the years. From memory, the tap version of this used to be quite astringent and unbalanced. Recent tap versions of this are pretty much identical to this bottle I’m rating now. I hope this becomes a more regular brew as it’s phenomenal.

(Draught) Sampled at the Great Canadian Beer Festival 2008 in Victoria, September 2008. Pours a deep orange body with a quick dissipating white frothy head. Nose of good oranges. Nice tart bite but a good malt base. Very fun.
Earlier Rating: 9/10/2007 Total Score: 3.8
(Cask) Sampled at the Great Canadian Beer Festival 2007 in Victoria on September 7th, 2007. Foamy almond head with an orange body. Nose and flavour of substantial pine and oranges. Very good.