Green Flash Imperial IPA

Brewed by Green Flash Brewing Co.
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Vista, California USA

The carbonation is fierce within this one. The initial scent is of your standard I2PA and the taste of it is that of a beer aged over pine bark chips, maybe spruce, and made smooth and mellow through some further process. The tail end of the sip contains moderate sweetness of maybe honey and/or mild flower. Supoyb!

Bomber split with ’Naka. Hazy burnt golden color with frothy white head. Very prominent floral hop nose, a bit of earthiness too. Wow, light mouthfeel, without an overpowering amount of malt, but its there, a touch of carmel I guess. Hop explosion. Earthy hop flavor, kind of gritty/dirty, but in a good way. Floral and citrus notes in the middle, then that dry, earthy taste to finish that lingers, but not in a bad way. Very good IIPA. Straigth SoCal HopBomb.

Bottled. An amber beer with a lazing beige head. The aroma has spicy notes of sage, as well as notes of other herbs, and heather honey. The flavor is sweet with notes of caramel and heather, leading to a very bitter finish. The body is thin.

Cloudy dark copper body with a very slight head around the sides of the glass. Strange and interesting aroma - it is musty and cellared, with a strong dose of citrus, sugar, and of course, an array of hops. Sharply hoppy flavor, as expected and its powerful. Not much sweetness here to balance it out. Not that I’m complaining. I like a beer with a hop bang. This beer is pretty hot yet, which I expect will diminish over time. Tasty, a good overall beer.

Cloudy light orange beer, with a foamy, sticky lace - stereotypical west coast giant hop nose, orange peel, mango - tastes a bit oxidized - I guess the bottle is a little old - strong pineapple flavor, with apricot and orange - super dry hoppy character, which I prefer to the sticky sweet malt character that many of these beers exhibit - long summit hop finish - a tasty brew.

22oz bottle. Bright gold color with offwhite head. Nose is definitely more subdued than I was expecting given the West Coast IPA-- aromas of citrus hoppiness, orange and pineapple, with some faint earthiness in the background, along with a sugary note, like cookie dough. Flavor is all hops, really fresh and clean, with a faint sugary malt throughout. Deep bitterness emerges in the finish, rounding out the hops explosion. Smooth palate throughout, and the alcohol is pretty well hidden. A bit sweet for my tastes overall. Not all that far removed from the West Coast IPA, and in that sense not as exciting as I was expecting, but darned tasty.

bottle....i’m not getting into this one so much as this doesn’t add to many of the iipas that exist out there....in summary, a decent iipa that is accented by an amalgamation of piney and citrus hops with malt added for balance. i would easily have this again but nothing makes it shine above the rest.

Bomber courtesy of Joey at South Bay! Definitely the best beer I’ve had from Green Flash. A big, bad-ass SoCal DIPA, this one is very piney and peppery, almost too much so at the expense of more floral or softer characteristics. But if it’s a bit more one-dimensional than I’d ultimately like, it’s damn sure another winner from the home of American IPAs!