Hop Valley Alpha Centauri Binary IPA

Brewed by Hop Valley Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Springfield, Oregon USA

Serve in Shaker, Snifter

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This DIPA is one of the best beers I have had in years. The well balanced yet over the top ibus make me want to drink this beer over and over again. Tons of hop flavors with a subtle alcohol presence slightly cloudy appearance

Strong hazy golden and peach coloured body with a thin, fast-dying white head. Aroma of tons of bright hops, citrus, grapefruit, pine, resin and bunches more hops - plus some malt and alcohol along with a bunch of sweetness. Medium to Full-bodied; Strong hop notes with grapefruit, honey and pine with a lot of alcohol and malt as well - nice and fruity. Aftertaste shows a lot of bitterness, naturally, with a lot of alcohol, pine, grapefruit and some good apricot and pear flavours. Overall, a very nice imperial ipa with tons of hop notes and even more malt and alcohol - all with great complexity. I sampled this 65 cL bottle purchased a few minutes ago at Belmont Station in Portland, Oregon for US$5.50 sampled in my hotel room here in Portland on 12-April-2013.

In short: A clean, sugary sweet, boozy and extremely hoppy pale IPA. Very harsh. Slightly below average for the style.
How: Bottle 22oz. Consumed relatively fresh one month after purchase, bottle forwared to me by mcberko, thanks a lot Matt.
The look: Medium cloudy amber-orange body topped by a medium white head with medium retention.
In long: Nose is massively hoppy with lots of pine-tree, pine needles, grapefruits. Taste has a lots of sweetness upfront, grainy toasted cereals, residual sugars, old sugary honey, not much caramel. This type of crystal-like sugary (refined white sugar) malt bill just is not my thing. Alcohol is a bit apparent. The beer is saved by its massive hopping because I’m a hophead. Not a very good Overall very rough. Not sure where the Alpha Centauri Binary name comes from, I don’t know much about this science and high-tech stuff, until recently I thought the iPad was some sort of feminine hygiene product.

Weird - seems more like a lager than an IPA. Tasted at the 2012 Concordia Alehouse Imperial IPA blind tasting contest.

Taken from my BA account, reviewed 2/28/12 Live tasting bomber into Duvel tulip... Appearance; pours a hazy light brown color with hints of gold and a fluffy and slightly bubbly two finger straw colored head... Rentetion is pretty good, with the head falling to a thin splotchy film after a couple minutes, lacing is out of this world with a thick curtain of lave sticking to the glass all the way down... Smell; opens right up with mango and pineapple, hints of orange and grapefruit rinds and notes of pine... Taste; lots of candied citrus rinds, orange, grapefruit and hints of lemon... Lots of pine creeps in at the finish, with an odd soapy bitterness lingering after... Kinda bizarre but not totally off putting... Mouthfeel; good carbonation! Bright and lively across the tongue, medium bodied with a slightly sticky aspect to it... Overall; this beer was good, but I wound up penalizing it for the soapy aspect... Not terrible at all, but I could certainly see that becoming overbearing... Were that to be fixed, this beer would be awesome!

Cloudy orange pour. Resin, orange peel and tropical fruit aroma. Flavor has more hops than the nose let on. Good resin/citrus peel notes here, cantaloupe, mango, yeasty esthers. Good stuff.

On tap at Uptown Market. Pours a slightly opaque, golden color with a white head. A small head since the growler was opened yesterday. Smell is extremely hoppy which is excellent. The taste is very floral with not quite enough bittnerness. Not much malt in the taste, but that is perfectly fine by me. This is an exremely good IPA from a good brewery. I can’t wait to visit in person!

For a super-heavy-ass IPA this one had a lot of good, solid flavor. After one glass I would crave more.

Bottle. Smells like wet hops. Straw in color with a hint of orange. Long nose...hoppy. long legs with an aftertaste one looks for in a DIPA...bitter but tasty. For fans of Pliny and Leafer Madness. Good good good.

Bottle:   Deep hazy orange, moderate frothy off-white head, fairly nice lacing.   Big piny and pithy nose.   Candyish sweet hop and citrus peel up front.   Not a big malty example, nor a big overly bitter hop-bomb.   A slightly astringent hop bitterness is the foundation for this one.   Body and mouthfeel are moderate.   Strong citrus peel and pithy hop bitterness on the finish, slightly sweet, yet a little astringent.   Decent, but more of a 1½ IPA.