Fish Tale Hodgson’s Double IPA

Brewed by Fish Brewing Company/Leavenworth Beers
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Olympia, Washington USA

Serve in Shaker, Snifter

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22oz bomber, courtesy of a sweet ass trade with pjdipes, pours with a clear deep copper body supporting a modest tan head of foam. The aroma offers up a brief whiff of citrus before sticky pine sap hops and wet cold fir tree take over amid a smooth smattering of malts. The taste seems a bit barleywine like and I’m liking in that it seems to have robust pine hops that are blunted either by a bit of age or maltiness yet remain thick and vibrant from front to back. Between the big bold, yet somehow smooth, pine hops and a nice fir tree sensation there are snippets of various citrus hop notes sweetened up just a tad by the malts. As I consume my way beyond midway it starts to pick up a spicy cedar wood like sensation along with everything else. I’m liking this one. It blurs the line, for me, between American barleywines and IIPA. It seems like, if memory serves, a little cousin of Founder’s Devil Dancer.

Bottle:   Burnt orange in color, moderate off-white head, frothy, spotty lacing.   Citrusy, resin, pine, and pith on the nose.   Hmm, on the tongue its not as bitter or biting as I would have thought based on the nose.   Moderate bitterness, lots of pith and citrus peel.   A little alcoholic on the backside, but not too much.   Moderate malt base.   Feels bigger than your normal IPA, but to me not quite in the 2xIPA territory.   At least its not a simple hop bomb.   Enjoyable, even if not all the way there.

22 oz. bottle. Pours hazy dark amber with a somewhat foamy sudsy khaki head that rest to a wispy film and thick collar. Aroma is bitter earthy hops and big caramel malt and some light spice. Taste is sweet earthy bitter resinous hops and sugary caramel malts with a little spice and alcohol. Palate is medium chalky and dry. Not a bad beer, but if this was a tad heavier on the malt profile we would have a barley wine.

Bottle. Pours murky dark orange-brown with a short head. Decent retention and lace. Nose is light sweet wih caramel and cereal malt, orange citrus, and plenty of resiny hops. You can sense how big and bitter this beer will taste. Flavor is light sweet and quickly bitters. Full body, thick-creamy texture, soft carbonation, and a very bitter finish.

Pours a murky orange-gold color with a white head that was barely noticed before it was gone. Very malty nose. Nearly no aromatic hop presence. DIPA?? Mouthfeel is nice with good balance. Very malty flavor. Bittering hops want to appear toward the middle/finish, but some misplaced Belgian yeast spice bullies its way into the palate. Not very good at all.

22 oz. bottle- Pours cloudy orange with a creamy light one finger head. Aroma is malt off the bat, dammit, I hate that. spicy piney hops are there too. Taste is more barleywine than DIPA I think, in fact it tastes like an overly hopped barleywine. Body is full, carbonation is fairly high. Not my style.

It’s kinda unfair that I sampled Stone’s 16 right before this. Well, that’s just the nature of the beast here... This one is a little stinky in the aroma and a bit buttery in taste and mouthfeel: Overall, burnt malts, butter, and some fruit to sweeten it up. Not bad, not great.

In short: A very brutally harsh IPA
How: Bottle 22oz. Consumed fresh a few weeks after receiving it from mcberko, thanks a lot Matt
The look: Partly cloudy golden-rust body topped by a small beige head
In long: Nose is unmistakably American IPA, my god the fruity resinous american hops come out strong in this one, along with some alcohol fumes. Taste has a decent sweet caramelized malts body. I can feel there is a good amount of sweetness here but it is quickly crushed by the violent fruity resinous bitterness and alcohol bite. This beer is a true palate destroyer, I could still taste it minutes after each sip. There is an alcohol bite but mostly the bitterness is so over-the-top that it almost completely hides the alcohol. The after taste is a thick coat of hops resin sticking to the back of your mouth. I’m a hophead so I can enjoy a beer like this. To call this beer brutal is almost an understatement. A bit too harsh for my taste nowadays, some years ago when I was just getting into craftbeer I used to like harshly bitter IPAs, but not anymore, and this is sad, this is sad because I used to be younger.

Pale deep golden orange pour, thin white head with very light sticky lacing ...... aroma of chewy caramel malts, light piney hops, light citrusy and resiny hops ..... taste is of resiny and citrusy hops, light piney hops, chewy caramel malts and a good bite of IBU’s .... finishes bitter and resiny .... mouthfeel is oily, medium bodied and the abv is hidden pretty well

Bottle from City Beer. Pours dark amber with a nice beige head and a citrus and toffee aroma. There is a bitter caramel malt flavor with some toffee and a sharp citric finish.