Dicks Bottleworks IPA

Brewed by Dicks Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Centralia, Washington USA

Bottle. Pours a cloudy orange brown with a small ring of white head. Aroma of crackery malt, citrus hops. Flavor of sweet fruits and crackery, caramel malt. This doesn’t taste too old, but it is a touch sweet and wore on me as I continued to drink it. 7/4/7/4/14 [3.6/5]

Bomber, showed up on Long Island along with some of the other Dick’s line-up. Didn’t realize this was aged, but I gather from the recent ratings it is. The bottle also refers only to a 5c bottle deposit for Oregon as opposed to listing all states with bottle laws as on the rest of current Dick’s bottles. Lots of excess information there, but it is what it is. In any case, doesn’t actually seem too old to the senses. Aroma does have a hefty caramel and bready malt feel but also still has plenty of pine, herbal, and tropical fruit hop notes. Flavor likewise has a good deal of malty sweetness, but whatever oxidation has taken place is not particularly off-putting nor does it turn the beer overly syrupy. Still plenty of bright bitterness left with a tropical feel and even lightly resinous over syrupy. Still seems like a DIPA to me, maybe a bit muted, but still a fine drinker.

Courtesy of... someone at Levi’s hop harvest party. 2 year aged bottle. Dark copper color with no head. Strong brown sugar aroma. Lots more sugar and sweet malts, caramel in the flavor. Hops have completely vanished. As an IIPA, it sucks; as a beer and American Strong Ale or Barley Wine, it’s pretty damn tasty.

Interesting stuff. Pours a dark honey amber with a smallish head that leaves great lacing. Smells more like a barleywine than an IPA - it has a huge malt contingent to offset the hops, almost going as far as some dark fruit notes. Big flavor with lots of hops, but that malt presence is still really strong - this is seriously like a barleywine without quite the burn. Totally belies its ABV. I’m digging the deep, earthy flavor that offsets the hops - the rye works a lot better than oak to complement. Not a great brew, and it came out a little undercarbonated, but definitely worth a shot.

Picked up a 12-oz bottle at Bottleworks in Seattle back in 2007 and cellared it for two years. Pours a semi-hazy copper/amber colored brew with a thin off-white head that quickly dissipates to a thin ring. Aroma of orange and lemon zest, a hint of caramel some vanilla and a touch of mild spice. Taste is medium bodied, some powdered caramel malt flavors with light grapefruit zest and a touch of caramel. Finish is a tad more malty than hops. Some alcohol burn and a powered caramel aftertaste. Aging smoothed it out compared to the rating back in 2007.

Aroma is pretty malts with a good deal of caramel and pale malts. Hops come across as earthy, piney, and somewhat cheesy. Pours a hazy shade of copper with a lasting fluffy head. More maltiness in the flavor. Malty but not overly sweet notes of caramel, pale malts, and brown sugar perhaps. Decently bitter earthy and piney finish. I still get that salty bitterness that reminds me of stinky cheese. Nice smooth creamy body with medium carbonation. I know that it wasn’t stored in the most ideal conditions at room temperature on a shelf at the store, so that must have something to do with it.

Nice ruby copper, fluuy fading head leaving alsting ring on the glass. Thick molassess malting caramel, dusty pine aroma. Upfront piney in-your-faceness move way for floral light flatterning notes which dance well with decent malt buoyancy

I bought a bottle and held onto it for a while out of fear that it wasn’t being made anymore, but since Dick’s will resume brewing I’m free to enjoy this. Clear amber, thin pale tan cottonball head. Faint earthy hop aroma. Where may IIPAs are srictly hop bombs, this one ebbs and flows as the caramel malt and aggressive hops rise and fall as they fight for attention. Chunks plopped out with audible splashes as i poured the last of the bottle in the pint glass and seemed to bring out some more of the sharp bitterness. This must have been at least 6 months old, perhaps it would not be as harmonious when fresh. I love living in the NW!