High Water Retribütion Imperial IPA

High Water Brewing
Brewed at Drakes Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Chico, California USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip

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22oz bottle, no date from Best Damn Beer Shop, I think it was like $7.99 or $6.99. Aaaand, it smells old. God dammit. And I’m rating it as such, because I am pissed. Pretty clear medium orange with a small creamy beigeish head, fair retention. Generic old hop aroma up front with some sweet passionfruit hops coming behind. Moderate caramel malt presence. Flavor is slightly less old hops, but still does have plenty, mind you, and has a light pine and citrus rind element. Moderate caramel malt presence in the flavor (department of redundancy department) with an earthy bitter dry finish, peaking at an 8 with moderate alcohol warmth. The old dry hopping shows up more in the finish. Full bodied with low prickly carbonation. At its peak of freshness this may have been pretty decent, I dunno.I will not buy from you again, High Water, unless you date your bottles. Simple as that. I’m so Fu*&ing sick of undated bottles--this goes to you as well, Drakes--which is exactly why I haven’t bought your IPA in three years.

Sampled in the big bottle. Pours bright orange with a thin lacey head on it. Big time hops and quality malts. Really nice brew.

22oz bomber pours clear ruby red amber with near white head and leaving behind some spotty lacing. The aroma offers up sweet malts, toffee and a bit of cherry hard candy thinly rimmed with molasses. Hmm, IIPA? The taste has sweet malts, a bit of earthy malts, sweet cherry hard candy dark fruity like esters and then slightly pine to vague hop resiny bitterness. This sort of build into resiny grapefruit hop bitterness to midway and into the finish. It seem sort of muddled with various malt notes as well as dark fruity esters trying to co-exist with basically just vague bitter hoppiness. Hmm.

Draught. Arbitrary score 4/5 for Appearance, as nighttime conditions prevented correct assessment. Bit catty hops, cassis/blackcurrant, but fresh-hoppy smelling. Orange- / mandarinepeel, orangemarmalade and green tea. Some light cake-like maltbacking. Medium bodied, slick. Decent, if a tad undistinctive IIPA.

Bottle courtesy of Marsiblursi shared at tasting. Pours clear amber witha frothy white head that slowly dissipates while leaving lots of trace and lacing on the lass. Smell is sweet and hoppy with caramel, pine, orange zest, pineapple, mango, dark bread, honey and currants. Taste is sweet and bitter with caramel, currants, pine, pineapple, grapefruit juice, orange peal and freshly cut grass. Mouthfeel is oily, smooth and medium to full bodied. Finish is tiny sweet and bitter with oily pine, freshly cut grass and orange peal.

Hazy golden pour on tap with a frothy white head. Aroma is clean but minimal bitter hops and dry malt. Taste is medium bitterness with an odd off flavor in the malt like vanilla or burnt malt - whatever it was it’s sad that this keg passed muster for commercial release. Clean mouthfeel. Subpar beer.

(Bottle) Pours amber with an off-white head. The aroma holds fresh pine, pink grapefruit and black currant tea up front with undertones of passion fruit, apricot, apples grass, rosemary and resinous wood. Malt brings bread, toast, light caramel and touch of honey. The flavour light sweet, medium to heavily bitter and light acidic. Aggressive piny, resinous, woodsy, grapefruity and earthy. Undertones of tropical fruits and deep toasted and caramelly malt. The mouthfeel fat, round, soft and tiny astringent with a light carbonation. Lingering afterbitterness. Fairly malt and hop balanced finish. Medium bodied.

Sampled at Larsniclas testing. Pours amber with a huge white head. Smells pine, caramell malty and hops. Tastes parfume, grassy hoppy, abit sweet and alcohol.

Bomber, GIL. Pours clear deep copper amber with a good beige head leavin lace. Aroma is sweet caramel malty piny bready soapy and a bit fruity. Flavor is directly pungent bitter citric and piny, good maltyness and caramel character adds on in the middle together with some tropical fruits and some fresh oily hops tones in the end. Finishes longlived bitter pungent and fruity.

Bottle at Gott i Lådan, Billdal, 120421. Clear amber beer with à nice steady offwhite head. Pine aroma, milky, malty, perfume notes, grassy, creamy notes, black currant. Hoppy flavor, grassy, quite bitter, perfume, milky notes. Long bitter finish with nice hops.

Bottled GIL Clear amberwith a medium off-white head. Sweet and piney aroma. Creamy and sligtly oily palate. High bitterness. Sweet and malty.