Highland Imperial Kashmir India Pale Ale

Formerly brewed at Highland Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Asheville, North Carolina USA

Shared by Dickinsonbeer. Hazy amber/light brow in color with a small head. Aroma: citrus, floral, with alot of caramel malts and a light touch of alcohol. A touch of yeast also. Taste is alot of caramel, light to moderately boozy, with citrus and pine flavor and bitterness that does a decent job of balancing the caramel malt backbone. However, the hops are not in forefront, which is what I like in a IIPA. Taste also had some bready yeast. Finishes with lingering caramel sweetness, alcohol, and a moderate hop bitterness. Tasted more like a barleywine than an IIPA to me.

Shared by Doughboy at Steve’s, what a treat! Poured rather hazy coppery orange from bomber. Aroma of sweet caramels, grapefruits, pine resins. Full bodied, full on pine resin with a strong grapefruit and hop character. The beer is exceptionally smooth and begs to be drank, over and over etc. I would love to try it on tap, what a kick ass beer from NC!! Thanks Ed!

Bottle thanks to ross. Pours deep copper orange with a 1 finger off-white head. Lots of juicy citrus nose, pine, spicy and a bit of a gingerbread like malt aroma. The flavor leans more towards pine than the aroma but still has a strong grapefruit note. There’s a nice spicy and peppery characther too that breaks up the intense bitterness. Medium-full oily body with gentle carbonation.

bottle. Aroma is big with notes of caramel, port, dried fruit, and spice. Deep dark orange/caramel color with an average sized off-white head that mostly diminished and left good lace. Flavor is sweet and sticky with flavors of caramel, spice, port, plum, and a slight bitterness on the finish. Palate is full bodied and oily soft. This brew tastes like an aged barley wine so I’m thinking this is an aged bottle. Either way I think it’s a good Imp IPA.

Bottle (22oz). Courtesy of blankboy. Cloudy amber-orange pour, very large fluffy beige head. Yum aroma - roast brown sugar malt and big-ass citrus/resin acidic funky hops. The taste follows, but it’s juicy - orange/peach - and while yes, it’s big and hoppy - tangerine zest - it’s much sweeter than I expected. Sugary, acidic and grapefruit-pithy bitter mouthfeel, a lightly sour and biting finish .... very nice - boozy too!

22 oz bottle. Bottle from Jimbowood. Shared with Bartzilla. Deep, rich amber color. Super hoppy nose. Flavor is sweet, almost too sweet. I picked up some brown sugar/Caramel like notes. We both agreed that this is almost a barleywine. Lots of heat from the alcohol. Pretty good.

Bomber. Hazy copper pour with a big head. Unfortunately, it smells like a cheap IPA...alcohol, bitterness, a touch of fruit. The flavor is that of an overly balanced IPA. It leans a bit more towards malt than most IPAs, way more than most IIPAs. This leaves a lot of alcoholic burn and not the most complex of flavors. I like that this "brewer of session beers" has ventured into the big beer market, and the price was right, but this one’s not memorable or particularly good.

Bottle courtesy of dragonstout. Pours amber/copper with a tan large head. Smells of perfume, wildflowers, pine tar. Tastes of caramel, citrus, spice, hints of bitterness, but heavy on the malt character. Sweet orangy finish.