Valley Brew Uberhoppy Imperial IPA

Formerly brewed at Valley Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Stockton, California USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip

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22 oz bottle via wavers (big thanks!). Pours a hazy copper with a nice compact off white head. Nose is a menagerie of hop aromas. What hop aroma do i NOT smell? Hmm maybe chesse. Everything else is there in abundance. MMMMMMMMMMM i am frakkin speechless after the first sip. THis is tasty..lots of bittering hops yet tons of flavoring hops to give it balance. Screw the malts, they are then just for something to hop onto, as they should be. Hops are center stage here and are blanced between bittering and flavoring, about as perfect as you can get. THis is what ruination could be if it had more flavoring/aroma to balance out the bitterness. This is what hoppy should be. Body is a nice medium/full, finish is semi-dry. I taste apricot, pineapple, orange, pine, grapefruit, cantelop, honey, toffee, mandarin orange, perfume, pine, and the orange peal, grapefruit, pine lingers for a few minutes into the glorious aftertaste....heaven in a bottle.

From notes. First reviewed 6/9/2010. Poured from a 22 oz. bottle into a tulip. Thanks to azureoval for hooking this up. Uberhoppy pours a dark cherry / burgundy color, with a nice 3 cm off-white head. Not a ton of retention and just a little bit of sticky lace on the glass. The malt is the first thing on the nose, and it is extremely roasted. A great switch up. Tons of hops to go along with it, citrus and pine mostly. A great variety of hops in the flavor. The flavor is different than I have seen in other DIPA’s. Some burnt sugar, chocolate, and smoke join the toffee sweetness to start. After the roasted malt front, citrus hops (mostly apricot and grapefruit) take over, but there are some great pine notes as well. Alcohol sneaks in right at the end, but it is barely present. There is a very noticeable dryness here. Nice creamy feel, with medium carbonation in a full body. A light hoppy oil residue after each sip. A killer DIPA is always drinkable.

Pours light golden amber with very little head . Smells of grapefruit, pine, and honey. Huge amounts of malt and honey stand out along with grapefruit, pine and citrus. Mouthfeel is thick and coats the palate well. Finish is bitter but medium in length this beer is probably past it’s prime and would have better fresh.

Golden color with a thin white head. Smells of hops and sweet caramel with a bit of pine and earth. Tastes of bitter hops and pine with some earth and heavy sweet caramel malts. Finish is lightly bitter.

22oz. bottle poured into a tulip glass. No freshness info. Pours a clear, deep reddish orange with almost no foam or carbonation and very little lacing. Nose is quite rich with malt, more roaster than sweet. Hops take a back seat here, barely showing at all. Mouthfeel is syrupy and heavy with no carbonation, almost like a barley wine style. Rich, caramel malt with a good amount of resiny texture on the finish, enough to cut the heaviness of the malt and remind you that this is classified as a DIPA. Hops are quite citrus-y but don’t show well enough to make up for the over-abundance of malt. I am really not feeling this one. It has almost nothing I look for in a DIPA.

Pours a dark, cloudy amber color with white head a lots of lacing. Aroma is earthy with spices, slight hint of citrus. Taste is bitter, little sweet. Palate is a heavier body with a long, dry finish. Overall, not bad, but earthy, spicy DIPA’s with amber malts are not my favorite DIPA’s.

Burnt orange in color... Aroma is caramel malts, citrus hops.. Flavor is caramel malt sweetness, notes of grapefruit, toffee...Finish is fairly hoppy, kind of off though, think it would have been better fresher, considering its been stored for 1.5 years.... Okay

22 oz. bottle from wavers. Pours a hazy orange amber color with a small white head. The aroma big resin, citrus and fruity notes with caramel malt and a surprising earthiness. The flavor has a great balance between the hops and malts. The hops a great level of bitterness, with resins, grapefruit citrus, and herbal spicy hops dominating. The caramel malt is big enough to stand up to the hops. Tropical fruits help round out the flavors. I generally like my Imperial IPA’s to be a bit unbalanced, but this is sooo good when it hits your lips. Medium plus body and a pleasure to try.

Bottle from New Star-Ell Liquors, San Francisco. Hazy dark amber pour with a bit of sediment swimming about and a small fading off white head. Nose was pretty dang uberbastardhoppy, and almost sickly sweet with notes of butterscotch. Somewhat lacking in finesse but bloody tasty, the flavour was again sticky sweet, and a little on the syrupy side of the tracks. A sack of resin sodden hoppage steam rollered through to give some semblance of balance though. A big in your face beer that packs a big hop hit. Niiiice 1.

(4/26/10, bottle from cloudskipper). Clear copper color. Small off white head. Moderate sweet malt aroma, with light floral and earthy hops. Flavor of the same, with light citrus and light alcohol. Long duration. Moderate alcohol finish. Slick texture. Soft to moderate carbonation. Fair lacing.

Served from a 22 oz bottle from Perry Liquor in Livermore. The appearance is a fairy deep golden brown with a frothy cream brown head. The aromas are full with rich earthy hops with a bit of an age on them. Very malty as well. The flavors are sweet with hop nectars and resins. A lot of floral and earthy contributions. Some citrus as well. I guess since there is so much variety of hops you get all the profiles in one. So much pine and resin!! Towards the end a great brown sugar and grainy malt profile comes through. Like licking a hop cone. The mouth is moderately carbonated, creamy yet drying. Maybe not the freshest bottle but delicious none the less.