Glacier Double IPA

Brewed by Glacier BrewHouse
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Anchorage, Alaska USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip

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Draft pint at the brewpub. Two full shades darker than their IPA, this is muddy orange with a thin but boiling yeasty top. It’s hard to pull the aroma from this but it’s a bit like steeped tea, rich and earthy. To the drink, this is robustly hoppy of course, but not over-poweringly so. The astringency of the oily hop dominates, with just a light tart malt below. (#3296, 1/17/2008)

19-Jan-08 (Draft: Glacier Brewhouse in Anchorage, AK) Sweet, honey-like graininess and sweet citrus hop aroma in the nose, with some grapefruit in the background. Mirroring the nose, the flavor has a sweet, caramely, fairly concentrated grainy malt base, and is balanced by hops with medium bitterness and orange, grapefruit and pine flavors. For an Imperial IPA, it’s just not that hoppy or bitter. On the palate, the beer is full-bodied and fairly crisp, but still a bit heavy in the finish. It’s too sweet, lacking the necessary dryness to be clean and truly drinkable. Carbonation is light and soft, and the beer lacks a sharp hop bite, so it has a pretty easy and smooth mouthfeel. It’s amber in color, showing a slight haze. The creamy off-white head pours to half an inch, but then holds a thin, complete layer, with some patchy lace on the glass. Overall, this isn’t a bold Imperial IPA, but more of a "starter" example of the style. And like most beers at the Glacier Brewhouse, it’s too sweet, so it’s hard to drink a full pint, let alone a second one.

Draft at The Bistro’s DIPA Fest; Nose shows dark fruit and some minor citrus hop notes; Rusty brown with a small off white head; flavor was of fruitiness, caramel, and some hop bitterness lasting to a decent hop finish. Not really impressive after all the others I’ve tried today!

4 ounce sample at Bistro’s IIPA Festival. This was the 2nd beer tasted of the day. Faint, sweet, maple-like malty aroma. I don’t really detect much in the way of hops in the nose. I think they forgot to add aromatic hops to this as it smells more like a barleywine. Transparent very dark amber color with a small off-white head. Again, this looks more like a barleywine. Floral, fruity, strawberry flavors with some hoppiness following. Caramel and roasted malts are present in the middle with some light, piney hops to finish. This is a pretty drinkable beverage that is decently balanced. The low hops in the nose and the dark color makes me believe this is more of a barleywine and its score suffers for that.

Tap at DIPA. Just considering the IBUs, one would have expected a more pronounced hop bomb. The hoppiness is subdued, probably offset by strong malts. The finish is long lasting and very bitter, this is where the hops come in. This was my first DIPA at the fest, so this was the right order, aftertrying some of the other hop bombs, this one would not have stood out.

Not as "hoppy" as I expected. Medium amber color with off-white head. Floral aroma. Slightly watery malt background set against a moderate hopping (am I coming down with a cold or something? The hops aren’t tickling my nose as much as I expected). Decent, but not out there on the edge.

Tap @ Bistro Double IPA Festival. Dark amber color with roasted malts and some chocolate. A dirty dish water color that had more malts and caramel than expected for the style. The highest IBU count of the event.

Big malt body with good bitterness and floral notes. nice caramel and toffee malt with hops that build as you drink it through.

Tasted at the 5th Annual Bistro 2XIPA Fest. Dark brown color. Small sized white foamy head. Aroma is floral hop, slightly earthy and sweet. A medium bodied Imperial IPA. Malts are caramel, fruity and sweet. Hops are grapefruity and earthy. Lots of malt backbone is this one. The hop flavor come in at the middle and the end of this beer. Lots of earthy notes as well. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly bitter.