Central Waters Illumination Double IPA

Brewed by Central Waters Brewing Co.
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Amherst, Wisconsin USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip

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12 oz bottle courtesy of Todd. Pours a clear orange vistalite with a medium sized off white head. Aroma of freshly squeezed tangerine and grapefruit, mango, hops and floral notes. Taste of bitter hops, strong citrus, floral notes, mango and light pine. Excellent.

This is a powerful and wonderful double IPA. I had it on tap at Guu’s on Main in Stevens Point WI, and straight from the bottle. Very floral and fruity hop aroma, and a nice lush base of maltiness. A truly excellent beer! And man is it hoppy!!

Bought this along with Hoptimum, this was far superior. Not saying Hoptimum was bad but this was very very good.

Serving glass: Poured from bottle into Nonic Imperial Pint. Appearance: Hazy honey-gold with foamy sustained head and great lacing. Aroma: Wonderful aroma of tangerine, pine, mango, pineapple and some light toasted malts. Sweet, dry and almost tart all at once. I hope this tastes as good as it smells. Taste: Onslaught of fruity, tropical hops. Some caramel and toasted malt backbone, but it is kept to a minimum. Finish is spicy, bitter and pine-like with some lingering tartness. Palate: Moderate carbonation, medium smooth body, extremely dry finish. A little bit of a warming feeling after each sip. Overall: Just a fantastic DIPA - one of the best I have had. I love that it is so dry and hoppy that it is borderline tart. I had only had Central Waters Glacial IPA before (which was somewhat disappointing) but I may need to try more from them after this beauty.

The local store finally got this in. 12 oz brown bottle. Says it was bottled this month, nice. It pours a hazy cidre/orange color. The head is white and foamy and leaves very nice lacing behind. This one smells pretty damn awesome. I’m glad I got it super fresh. It is bursting with hop scents. It has a nice candied orange peel, some mild mango, and some grapefruit. I love smelling the tropical fruit bombs, tasting them is hit or miss, we shall see. This one tastes pretty damn awesome too. The ample amount of bitterness accents the fruitiness nicely. There is a lot more pine and grapefruit peel in the flavor which I like. I love mangoes and citrus and pretty much all tropical fruits, there is only one that irks me and it is pineapple, there doesn’t seem to be much of it here luckily. It has a nice mineral water flavor to it as well. It is a very finely crafted DIPA. It isn’t an out of control hop bomb, and isn’t too sweet. It definitely is leaning towards bitter but it isn’t the most bitter DIPA you will find. The resinous hops seem to stick in your mouth forever with a lasting bitterness. The mouthfeel is decent but not perfect for this one. All that bitterness leaves a bit of dryness. Much like say a hopslam, this one is a dangerously drinkable brew, especially with a hearty abv. It is immensely quaffable. Central Waters had me with their stouts, now they have me with their DIPA. This brewery is really starting to make more and more quality beers. Serving type: bottle Reviewed on: 06-20-2010 23:57:23

Sourish but hopy-floral aroma. Deep amber color with medium tan head. Initial taste of spice and peppers with lighter maltiness than would be expected from a double IPA. Dry, slightly woody mouthfeel, and not too thick of a body, with strong grapefruit notes on the aftertaste. All-in-all this is my kind of beer. Best one I’ve had in a while.

4-pack from Capone’s. As humans, we compare everything. It’s natural, and it’s innate (notice how I correctly used the apostrophe there). We compare beers, jobs, wives, everything. Thus, it is unavoidable that I must compare this to Green Gold. The pour is turbid dark straw, a bit like pumpkin pie color, with a frothy well retained off-white head. The nose is nice; big grapefruit, tangerine, pineapple, some apricotty sweetness, big resiny hops, honey, and malt. The flavor is..wow, yet another mouth puckering hop bomb! HUGE resiny hops, sticky pineapple, grapefruit, fresh ground black pepper, and a big malt bill to keep the hops is somewhat of a non-overpowering state, although the hops are the Tenille here and not the Captain. They are the Oprah and not the Stedman. They are the Alpha and the Omega. Not quite as malty or flashy as the green gold, this one is a true lupulin behemoth in its own right, and is delicious. Gets more resint and the IBUs get a tad more pronounced late, but this one is a hop bomb from beginning to end. The best CW beer since that CW BA RIS I got from John Stolte back in August of 2007-8ish that I rated a perfecto robusto, and I am glad to see these guys in PA, and see that these guys still make groundbreaking beers. The green hop cone on the label NEVER gets old, either. Never.

Picked up a four-pack at Heritage Liquors in Maplewood, MN. From 12-oz bottle pours a semi-clear, bright golden amber colored brew with a thick and rocky off-white head that has some excellent retention and heavy lacing. Aroma of mostly hops, a hint of biscuit malt, but more pine, citrus, tangerines, and grassy hops. Taste is full bodied, soft carbonation and texture, then, pow! In yer face hops and then escalates to overly ripe tangerines, grapefruit, with a hint of caramel malt and more fruit. Finish is just plain fruity and multi-hop bitterness. Tongue shocker to the nth degree and it just lingers long after the finish. Definitely a high-octane Imperial IPA and perhaps a sleeper beer that could easily become a high demand IIPA.

Pours a hazy amber color with bubbly globs of lace that cling to the glass. Aroma is of a citrus wonderland! Grapefruit, orange, mango all come to the table for this ale. Notes of light caramel and bready malt add a little backbone so the hops don’t crush this brews spine. Taste is intense citrusy hops with the grapefruit, orange, mango and light pineapple with a bit of a grainy bready malt flavor that shows up in the finish. This is a bruiser of an IIPA and definitely one of my favorites now. While not a very floral and bright beer like Hopslam this could easily be a daily drinker for me. Alcohol is well hidden which makes this a dangerous brew. Seek it out if you can!

Pours a murky caramel tan, good foam, lacing is good .. . you got any spare change? .. . wow! fresh hops, resin, and a strange satisfying sweetness- unique and tasty .. . awesome stuff!.. wish i had a keg and a plunger .. . and yes, i know you think i’m crazy, but its only because i hear voices in my head- but they only speak spanish and i don’t have a clue what they’re saying..