Highland Imperial Kashmir India Pale Ale

Brewed by Highland Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Asheville, North Carolina USA

Serve in Shaker, Snifter

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Thanks to Ross for this one. Pours turbid deep coppery with 2-finger off-white head. Aroma of bready caramel malt, tropical fruit, hops, peppery and mango notes. Tastes piney hoppy, with pineapple, tangerine, black and Bell pepper, and bready malt plus some floral finishing notes. Gets a tad hot as it warms, and stays extremely hoppy throughout.

Bomber thanks to Jmichael, I believe! Poured clear, fiery medium orange with a short-medium cap of beige head. The aroma was entirely juicy, with grapefruit and pear leading the way.. strong, alcohol-fueled toffee and caramel undertones.. enjoyable spicy accents.. quite nice! The flavor had grainy, boozy toffee and lighter fruits at the core, with biscuit sweetness around the edges.. floral and juicy citrus bitterness provide solid accents.. strong and warm at the end... tasty, but a bit rough at times. Creamy, almost buttery feel across the middle of the palate with a stronger, boozy and grainy feel on the finish.. decent flow, and very warming in the belly.

2008-08-16. Hazy orange body with a modest creamy beige head. (3+) Aroma is a touch muted at first but some nice citrusy hops comes otf after a bit. Touches of tea like herbal notes. (7+) Sweetish malt core in the flavour with touches of caramel, light resin and herbal hops, light bitterness. (7+) Smooth medium bodied palate. (3+) Bottle, Coles IPA Festival, Buffalo

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.

Objectively speaking: Perfumey, thick and chewy double IPA that does not strike the drinkability chord.
I like: Nice aroma which capts the essence of the pungent dry-hopping aromatics AND the bready, crunchy crystal honeyed notions. Relatively complex. Acrobatic floweriness, burstingly fruity.
I dislike: Overly agressive in its malt deployment. This is very sweet up to the end, fatiguin the palate quickly. Quite alcoholic as well which further diminishes drinkability. Inefficient carbonation, never really cleansing, nor engaging, quite greasy/oily feel.

Courtesy of mgumby10. It pours a hazy copper with gold edges and thin off white head. The aroma has an initial hit of sweet grapefruit hard candy (if there is such a thing), some pine hops mixed with malty sweetness. The combination creates a fruity – pale – almost hay like aroma. The thick mouth feel ushers in malt sweetness and grapefruit hop bitterness that seems to give way to a citrus hard candy flavor. A malty backbone shows up midway with lightly roasted malts and malt sweetness to interrupt the hop momentarily. The grapefruit hop bitterness grows into the finish and after taste. It doesn’t come together all that well for me. The flavors seem disjointed somewhat.

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!

In short: An overly sweet alcoholised IIPA. Not bad but rather brutal.
How: Bottle, 6 months old (released sept 2007), acquired through elmatador00, thanks a lot James. Drank at Back from Europe tasting session with Montreal crew
The look: Cloudy dark orange body with a very small off-white head
In long: Nose mixes floral notes with grapefruits and citrus fruits. Taste is too sweet and alcoholised for my taste, very sweet with apparent alcohol. Feeling of eating a juicy very sweet caramel cookie with a shot of hard liquor. Bitterness started to kick-in as the beer warmed-up but just not enough to balance it out. Intense it is, refined it is not. Kind of lacking in the hops department. Bottle proudly states “200 pounds of hops in 50 barrels”… must have been very very big barrels.

Bottle: Caramel color, light head and light lacing. Nose of bright earthy citrus and pine, some citrus. The flavor is woody, light tobacco and bright acidity, lacking a malt backbone to backup the bitterness but isn’t under sweet per se. Bamboo? Interesting.

Bottle from kp. Thanks man! Reddish amber colored brew with an extremely thin head. Citrus fruit aroma. Tons of grapefruit, orange, and tangerine but not a strong burst, but more of a very nice juicy aroma. The flavor is sweet and juicy. Semi sweet caramel malt, citrus hops, pine hops, and a touch of earth. Citrus, piney hops are dry and lingering. Some alcohol comes through in this hoppy, juicy brew.