Goose Island Imperial IPA

Formerly brewed at Goose Island Beer Company (AB-InBev)
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Chicago, Illinois USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip

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Pours a brilliantly clear, full copper color that is topped by a frothy, three-finger thick, light tan colored head. The aroma is intensely laden with citrus-like notes of American hops. Sweet citrus including orange, and grapefruit as well as ample notes of lychee, apricot, peach, and intense fruit notes similar to tropical fruits like pineapple and bits of papaya and mango. The aroma is quite a heavenly melange of heady sweet fruit notes, including a ripe fruit sweetness to it. The Simcoe really seems to dominate the aroma on this one, and I really like what it is doing.

The beer has a medium to full body to it as well as a sweetness, which only helps to accentuate the hoppy fruit notes. The flavor has lots of hops coming out all over the place. Predominant is the sweet fruit character which is reminiscent of lychee fruit, peaches, and apricots. Secondarily I get notes of sweet ruby red grapefruit, tangerines and sweet oranges. The malt character is not noticeable in and of itself, but it plays a big role in accentuating the fruit-like hop character.

I must admit, I am a sucker for the upfront, intense, hop derived fruit notes in this beer. They pair perfectly with the malt sweetness and make this quite the decadent after dinner treat. The alcohol is quite well integrated in this beer as well; it is barely perceptible in either the nose or the flavor. What can I say, this had definitely lived up to the long wait for me to procure a couple samples of this brew; I definitely recommend it.

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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.

This beer surprises you, with an aroma that screams hops, but with a balanced taste between hops and malt. A very drinkable beer.

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.

Penn station large plastic cup at Rose’s pizza, classic IPA flavor, hon if sweetness, right amount of hop flavor

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.

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

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.

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.

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!

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.