Founders Devil Dancer Triple IPA

Pours dark amber with a medium white head. Smells of rich varied hop smells including pine, floral and citrus. Taste is an explosion of hops that taper off into a nice long lasting bitterness. I would have liked it to have been more complex though a great hop taste but it lacks the complexity of ruination.

Bottled. Happy New Year 07. Beer is clear, medium-dark caramel brown. Head is small, off-white, frothy, mostly diminishing.<P> The aroma is hop-dominated. Light note of toasted grain, sweet moderate note of caramel malt is hidden by heavy hop notes of resin, grapefruit, moderate orange zest, dried apricot; Trace note of attic.<P> The flavor is heavily sweet, moderately acidic, moderately-to-heavily bitter with a long, moderately sweet, lightly bitter, warm finish.<P> The body is full, the texture is syrupy and the carbonation is lively.<P> Not bad, but not earth-shattering. I think it’s notable that this hop combination and strength is a bit reminiscent of the taste of ear wax.

Pours an amber brown with a tan frothy head, big carbonation. Powerful caramel, roasty and floral aroma. Heavy sweetness and knock you down bitterness. Full bodied and creamy on the tougue, lively carbonation. Very bitter finish. The high alcohol content of this beer is very well hidden, your insides warm as the glass empties.

Cloudy brownish orange with thin tan head which dissapates. Strongly malty aroma, some brown sugar, slightly fruity and some hops underneath. Intense bitterness tight from the beginning which lasts for long after. Some malt, but more sugary sweetness which doesn’t stand up to the bitterness. Hop flavor hard to detect around all that bitterness. Clear alcohol presence warms all the way down. A good beer, but one dimensional. A little more malt would be nice, but if you are going to use that much hops lets have some flavor and aroma contribution. Did I mention it was bitter?

12 oz bottle. Cloudy brown with a minimal head. Orange and vanilla melon. Touch of green grass and duck sauce. Sticky butterscotch and caramel with notes of past expiration ground beef. Lingering green olive bitterness. Alcohol is well hidden but this still seems overdone. I’m not sure a triple IPA can work.

In a word: Intense. Super concentrated with a dark ruby-copper color. The alcohol is almost totally undetectable, camoflaged by the scorching hops. Not as bitter as I was expecting though.

Pours a deep reddish/copper with a medium fluffy tan head that does not even move. Aroma is big hops notes, almost fruity (grapes or raisins), a nice maltiness to it as well with a kind of roasted nut/ caramel scent to it. Taste is big on hops and malts. It very reminiscent of a nice Barley Wine. A nice fruity texture continues on through the taste, somewhat creamy, and the alcohol is very well hidden. Only getting a slight stinging sensation on the back end make it noticeable. Palate is quite nice. Bitter, lively, long and somewhat lightly sweet with a nice full body to it. I like this a lot, but I would consider this more of an Barley Wine than a Double IPA.

Tap. Pours a clear coppery color with a decent sized yellow-tan colored head that settles out pretty quickly. Arom sweet malt, alcohol, citrus. Flavor is malty, pine resin, citrus, alcohol. Palate is medium-full bodied, with a a lingering bitterness, and some warmth from the alcohol. Good, but not what I was expecting.