Goose Island Imperial IPA

12 oz, 2006 vintage, bb March 31, 2007. Hazy orange-amber with a large, sticky head that gives great lace. Aroma is big earthy-spicy combo of chocolate, citrus, resin, toasted nuts, and more. Flavor is more of the same, leaning more to the citrus-resin hops, but still has a big malty flavor to balance, and a hint of warming alcohol on the finish. Medium body is smooth and oily, with just enough wateriness to finish clean. On principle, I just can’t give a perfect 5.0 rating to any beer until I reach Nirvana, but this is the closest I have come to it so far.

Pours a hazy dark orange color with a thin off-white head and lacing. Aroma is grassy, pine, grapefruit, and mandarin oranges. Quite bitter up front, with some mango and orange coming through, and finishes with a tinge of pineapple. There’s just something missing. There’s a lot going on but nothing shines through. It’s missing some brightness. I have to compare this to the HopSlam and the HopSlam seems more focused and brighter.

12 oz bottle via Mys Swap 3.0 (Thanks Hellbilly!). She pours a hazy amber with a large beige head that maintains it’s shape for a bit longer than is typical of an IIPA. Nice. Nose is pure Pine Vs Grapefruit...thrilla in manilla pt IIIPA, knockout by hops in the first round! Taste starts with sweet crystal ice tea malt, then the hops arrive..TONS of pine and grapefruit, some pineapple, orange..more orange..and then the pineapple comes back with a tinge of mango...this is a splendid hop bill...the finish is misleading as it appears it will be dry..but then there is a lingering sweetness...so we will call it a flavorful semi-sweet, semi-dry...the body is medium, and carbonation is just right. This is close to world class..i think it just needs a bit more dry-hopping to get it to that final stretch...or maybe i just need a fresher bottle... Don’t get me wrong though, this is real damned good..better than 90% of the IIPA’s out there! Oh and i just noticed something bizarre..this is an IIIPA with a twist top!! Funkadelic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh yeah.....massive IIPA here. Powerful hop aroma lets you know it is unmistakably an IIPA. Very bitter taste of orange with hints of lemon and pine. Long strong finish. Only the Dreadnuaght is better.

What to do about this one? The front label says 2006 and the back clearly states best before March 31, 2007, about 10 months ago. So is it fair for me to rate it now, being as the hops seem to have faded so badly? I think this is a good argument for a feature that allows neutral ratings, reflecting only comments and not contributing to the score. Anyway, a murky orange beer witha a small offwhite head that doesn’t leave any lacing. Smell is mostly malt and caramel with a little hop citrus, also a warm vanilla smell. Tastes of more malt, caramel and vanilla with some bitterness and actually a good amount of hop fruit - apricot and citrus. Feel is pretty full and smooth, finish is just a touch hot. This beer today is 6-3- 7-4-16, but I’m tweaking the score to match its average, essentially making my own score not count, because I don’t think it’s fair to rate something this old that I probably would have enjoyed much more fresh. Had a fresher one today, thanks Mikedt, everything I expected, all the fresh hop aroma I was looking for, spot on citrus and pine hop aroas. alcohol barely visible, just what I wanted, great IIPA, everything that was missing before is justified now, great hoppy fruity beer.

2007 bottle. Pour is a nice bronze color with a small white head. Great lacing. Aroma of big citrus and piney hops. Tastes pretty much as it smells...huge grapefruit and pine with good malt backing. No trace of alcohol. Full bodied and cramy. Easy drinker.

Bottled 100305 - Hazy orange body with a very small beige head; Huge quite vulgar a bit 1-dimensional but still very pleasant nose; Full super balanced quite fresh elegant very, very pleasant body; Very pleasant balanced perfectly evolving finish, lots of aroma evolving perfectly. Great beer that lacks a little in the nose, but makes it up by having a perfect body and finish.

Bouteille 12oz, courtoisie de Hogtownharry. De couleur orange et voilée. Nez de houblon résineux, citrique, légèrement floral et herbeux avec des notes terreuses, malté de caramel sucré (notes de butterscotch et de toffee), fruité (agrumes, léger d’abricots), léger de biscuits et avec des notes de pain et de thé. Ronde en bouche avec un pétillement moyen et une texture riche, crémeuse et légèrement résineuse. Goût amer de houblon résineux, moyennement floral et herbeux (rappelant le thé avec des notes de menthe), légèrement citrique (pamplemousse) et avec des notes terreuses (présent toute la gorgée) accompagné d’un goût assez fruité (orange, mandarine, léger d’abricots sucrés, notes de pêches mûres et traces de pommes) lors de l’entrée en bouche auquel se rajoute un goût malté de caramel sucré avec un léger goût de biscuits au miel et de toffee ainsi que des notes de pain et de butterscotch puis en finale l’on assiste à un retour en force du houblon plus herbeux (herbes fraîches légèrement assséchantes) ainsi qu’un léger d’alcool réchauffant. Post-goût long et moyennement sec, amer de houblon résineux, herbeux, moyennement floral et légèrement citrique, fruité (zest d’agrumes, pelures de pêche) avec des notes d’alcool et de thé.