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Goose Island Imperial IPA

 (RETIRED)
Score
10099
OVERALLStyle
Serve in Snifter, Tulip

bottling
unknown

on tap
unknown

Local Distribution

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RATINGS: 601   WEIGHTED AVG: 3.99   SEASONAL: Winter   EST. CALORIES: 276   ABV: 9.2%
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COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION
Traditionally, there are a lot of rules when it comes to brewing great beer. The fact that American craft brewers have broken those rules to produce some of the world’s finest beers is downright heroic. At Goose Island we live and die by hops, so breaking the rules meant pushing the hop limit to the extreme to create this monster Imperial IPA. We took three of our favorite hops, TETTNANG, SIMCOE, and CASCADE, and balanced their spiciness with tons of malt. Them we went back and dumped in MORE HOPS and more malt until this beer was exploding with flavor...strong enough to wake the dead and filled with more bitterness than a woman scorned. This Imperial IPA is absolutely gigantic, you’ll smell the hops from about a yard away. What will surprise you is how incredibly drinkable it is. Pair it up with the saltiest blue cheese you can find, and go nuts.


3.8
   AROMA 8/10   APPEARANCE 3/5   TASTE 8/10   PALATE 4/5   OVERALL 15/20
brewbandit (312) - Marietta, USA - FEB 16, 2005
Light head on an orange amber body. Good fruity citrus aromas. Fruity malt with good hop bitterness ending with a touch of dryness.

3.8
   AROMA 7/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 7/10   PALATE 4/5   OVERALL 16/20
50belair (1034) - Florida, USA - NOV 14, 2011
On tap at Coaches. Clear burnt orange pour with a off white head. Citrusy hop aromas. Smooth and well balanced with citrusy hops and caramel malt.

3.6
   AROMA 8/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 7/10   PALATE 4/5   OVERALL 13/20
GL2814 (155) - New York, New York, USA - JUN 12, 2011
This beer surprises you, with an aroma that screams hops, but with a balanced taste between hops and malt. A very drinkable beer.

3.6
   AROMA 7/10   APPEARANCE 3/5   TASTE 7/10   PALATE 4/5   OVERALL 15/20
Ratman197 (5940) - Arvada, Colorado, USA - APR 18, 2011
Bottle 2006 vintage courtesy oif Doodler ( thanks Scott for tracking this Down) poured a hazy orange amber with a lingering ring of amber foam. Aromas of sherry, carmel, earthiness, pine, fruittiness and a hint of spice. Palate was medium bodied and smooth. Flavors of carmel, sherry, earthiness, toffee and light pine with a smooth lingering moderatly bitter finish.

4
   AROMA 7/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 8/10   PALATE 4/5   OVERALL 17/20
dredmond (110) - Long Island, New York, USA - APR 9, 2011
Penn station large plastic cup at Rose’s pizza, classic IPA flavor, hon if sweetness, right amount of hop flavor

3.7
   AROMA 8/10   APPEARANCE 3/5   TASTE 7/10   PALATE 3/5   OVERALL 16/20
JB84 (649) - Kitchener, Ontario, CANADA - APR 5, 2011
Pour hazy orange nice white head good lace. Aroma lots of citrus hops, grapefruit, resiny hops, and pine. Taste malty caramel back bone, nice bitterness, citrus fruits, and piney notes. MF medium chewy body nice carb. Overall solid brew.

4
   AROMA 8/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 8/10   PALATE 4/5   OVERALL 16/20
jkwood04 (1407) - Connecticut, USA - MAR 28, 2011
12oz bottle in a shaker. Pours bright orange with a cream colored head. Aroma of very strong citrusy/grapefruit hops with strong caramel malts. Very rich flavor with the strong hops undertones. Very smooth texture, but could be thicker. A really good beer for this style

4.1
   AROMA 8/10   APPEARANCE 5/5   TASTE 9/10   PALATE 4/5   OVERALL 15/20
bobbypaulson (217) - Fergus Falls, Minnesota, USA - MAR 28, 2011
had this beer out of a bottle the first time I went ot the happy gnome. 2007 The beer pours a cloudy amber with out any head or carbonation. I’m sure it has raelly mellowed out from how it first wasbrewed. Never the less it is very good and aged very well. smell was citrusy and the taste was powerfully hoppy.

3.7
   AROMA 8/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 7/10   PALATE 4/5   OVERALL 14/20
BMan1113VR (6531) - Los Angeles, California, USA - DEC 22, 2010
Bottle marked as 11/03/05 (label says that flavor will continue to develop over 5 years...I guess I am a little late) thanks to captaincougar. I will re-rate this again as soon as I can try it fresh (and I will be actively searching it out). This search would be made easier by if they bottled it again. Pours with a hazy golden-orange body and a large off-white head. Powerful aroma, even from far away. Aromas of tea, orange, caramel, brandy, dark fruits, pencil shavings, raisins and citrus. Actually smells like a decent barley wine. Flavors are dry, cracker, curacao orange, pine, orange rind bitterness, tea, and raisins. Might have been a great IIPA at some point. It makes a decent ASA at this moment. Still lively carbonation. Little oxidation. Okay. Need to try the fresh stuff.

4.5
   AROMA 9/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 9/10   PALATE 4/5   OVERALL 19/20
pchiodo (27) - Barrie, CANADA - AUG 15, 2010
Do they even make a middle of the road beer? No! Amber with a large, sticky head that gives great lace. Aroma is big.Flavor is more of the same, leaning more to the citrus-resin hops, but still has a big malty flavor to balance. Awesome!

3.8
   AROMA 7/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 7/10   PALATE 4/5   OVERALL 16/20
kbutler1 (1115) - Minnesota, USA - JUN 3, 2010
Ok, so I got a 2007 "vintage" bottle of this from my local beer store at a really discounted rate. I was told, and already knew, that the hops flavor would be pretty much gone being that it has been sitting for 2 years now. But, nonetheless, I wanted to see how it would be. Poured a hued orange opaque color with good head. Barely noticeable hop smell, by far the malt backbone stood out. For tastem, following the smell, there was little hop flavor but the sweet malt flavor stood out. Again, I expected this to be the case I would really like to try this beer fresh and compare the two.


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