Goose Island Imperial IPA

Brewed by Goose Island Beer Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Chicago, Illinois USA

Unique, intriguing, strong, sweet, chalky aroma features apple, hay, cherry, raspberry, chocolate, and plum scents. Smells almost saison-esque with its farmhouse aromas and dry character, but with a definite Pacific Northwest hops twist. Also smells much like many barley wines. <P>Pours a hazily opaque, glowing orange/tan with a small amount of short-lasting, cream-colored head. Produces surprisingly extensive lacing given the lack of head foam. <P>The taste is quite sweet, pepper-spicy, and fruity (especially apricot). The alcohol is well-masked, although it does make its presence felt after multiple sips. In many IPAs and double IPAs, the hops dominate the flavor in the initial sips, while the underlying, malt-derived flavors emerge later. This beer produces the opposite effect, with the hoppiness developing slowly but surely in the flavor. Very dry finish, again reminiscent of a saison. <P>Citrus- and bitter-hoppy aftertaste. Full-bodied, soft, and smooth in the palate. Lively on the tongue. Easy to drink for such a thick, heavy, and high-alcohol brew, but it is filling. <P>I drank this sample from a 12 oz. bottle labeled as 2006 and marked as best when consumed by March 31, 2007, so it’s supposedly two months past its prime. I’m guessing that the sharp hop character has diminished somewhat, but the underlying flavors are strong enough that I doubt that the beer is suffering too greatly from aging. Goose Island Imperial IPA is a very good and unique beer. It does not taste as one might expect from the style, but who cares? It’s still really good.

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.

Rich golden pour. Aroma is pine. Flavor is heavily hoppy, full and robust. It’s evident when you are drinking it that it contains very good ingredients. Well rounded example of an IPA.

Bottle. Very nice aroma of floral / citrus hops, some alcohol, and grain. Palate is smooth with low carbonation. Bitter / malty flavor is not as good as anticipated. Bitter piney finish.

Sampled at Cellar’s Wine & Spirits beer tasting in St Paul, Minnesota, and shared by joebrew. Pours a semi-clear copper amber brew with a thick off-white head that has some good retention and lacing. Aroma of sweet citrus and pine hop character with a touch of caramel malt and some tropical fruit. Taste is medium bodied, light carbonation with flavors of sweet citrus zest, caramel malt, some bubblegum, banana esters and even a little honey. Finish is sweet/bitter with a citrus and pine aftertaste.

Pours a deep, bright orange with a creamy beige head that laces nicely. The nose is of solid, citric hops supported by a big malt backbone and a light cotton candy note. Medium-bodied and creamy-soft with a dry, lightly woody and bitter finish that hangs around for a while. The flavor is a nice malty/bitter-hop balance with a woody, dry finish. This is a very solid and tasty beer, but at nearly $20 per 4-pack, I’m not really compelled to run out and buy more, any time soon.

Poured from a 12oz bottle (2007) and served in a tulip. This beer poured a slightly hazy golden amber with a two-finger thick head of lasting beige foam. Thick, foamy lacing coated the inside of the glass. The aroma of the beer was made up of grapefruit, sugary caramel notes, toffee, and also some fresh oranges. The flavor consisted of a nice balance of hops and malt. Notes of chewy caramel were followed by fresh citrus, including grapefruit and peach. Not overly bitter. The mouthfeel was heavy, full-bodied, and slightly resiny. Very minimal carbonation. An excellent DIPA featuring amazingly good balance. I wouldn’t mind the hoppiness being a little more upfront and bold, but this was still tasty.

Draft: Speckled hazy peach. Off white, very sticky foam, which leaves intricate webbing. Extremely round aroma of pungeant peach, white pepper, abundant crytal/pale malt components, orange marmalade, and light melon. The slight mushiness is the only thing that detracts from perfection here. Smooth, syrupy palate. Very sweet, floral, and vaguely salty flavors, offset by vanilla, peach, pumpkin, and leather notes. Finishes progressively bitter with lovely citric peach belches. I was told by a brewmaster that this was 140 IBU. I sure didn’t detect all 140.