Iron Fist The Gauntlet Imperial IPA

Brewed by Iron Fist Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Vista, California USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip

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750ml Bottle. Pours with uncontrollable head…figures, I want to drink beer and I have to wait for this thing to go down….waiting…waiting…while I’m waiting I’ll mention that the beer itself appears to be a deep burnt auburn color…the head dissipates slowly, it’s slightly peachy in hue and settles all mountain like. The nose is somewhat dusty and musty…underneath that, I get some spicy and earthy hop character, along with maybe a touch of some grilled dilapidated orange and codeine cough syrup. Flavorwise, it’s rather bitter, with the bitterness taking on a medicinal edge in the finish…slightly aspirin-like or even Robitussin, or like i said above, codeine cough syrup, without the codeine effects :( But medicinally bitter and stingily so..the actual flavors are on the dry side, somewhat citrusy, i suppose, in a dry orange-like way with some of that spicy, earthy character coming through too. So, this beer is certainly the best of what I’ve had from this brewery so far..not that that is saying much of anything, but I thought I’d throw that out there anyway. There’s no major faults...but there are faults, just not major…maybe the nose wasn’t the greatest in the world and maybe that stringy old orange/medicinal thing going on in the finish keeps it from being something I’d ever buy again, but it’s not bad…it’s not even "bad" for San Diego IPA/IIPA standards, well...you know what? Fuck. the more I drink through the bottle, the less concerned I am with the stuff I mentioned above...it’s still there but seems to get more tolerable...it’s still quite stingily bitter though, though I suppose that’s the point and I’m just getting old.

Poured into my ccb pint glass. Amber brown with a 1 finger head that sticks around, beautiful lacing on this one. Decent aroma with hops and malts nothing too intense. You can taste the intensity of the hops right away then the malts balance it out then it finishes with more hops. I’ve never really experienced a fight between malts and hops in a beer like this before but I guess that’s appropriate for iron fist. Overall one of the easiest drinking dipas around, great beer from a brewery that flies under the radar!

Lightly hazy amber small whitish head, fair amount of lacing... Spicy malty body, rye perhaps, grassy hoppy... Limited aroma, grassy... Decent medium to medium full mouthfeel...

hazy light amber color, aroma of funky, citrus, hops, sweet malt, flavor of citrus fruits, funky earthy hops, some dark fruits, caramel, sweet malt, well balanced, quite enjoyed this one, disagree with all the low ratings

Dark red with very little head. Smells of citrus, hops, and raspberry. Tastes clean and crisp with a slight hop flavor without any hoppy ’bite’. Pretty well balanced.

On draft at Bruery Provisions. Clear yellow pour with white head. Aroma was fresh squeezed citrus, mildly sweet. Taste was bitter grapefruit and orange peel with bitter finish and medium body.

Sample at Bruery Provisions. Slightly cloudy orange-amber pour with a medium off-white head that dissipates quickly. Spotty lacing on the glass. Piney hops and caramel malt in the nose. Medium body with flavors of resiny hops, sweet malt and caramel. The finish is short and leaves a moderately bitter hops aftertaste. Slightly above average IIPA all around.

The pour is bright orange in color with a finger of white head.  Herbal hop aromas with a strong lemon cleaner aroma.  Slightly fruity but also quite abrasive and solventy.  Harsh bitterness and solvent flavors.  Some herbal hop notes and a little bit of citrus peel.  Not very good.  Medium body and carbonation.

750 ml bottle. Pours turbid deep coppery with 3-finger creamy off-white head. Looks great. Nose is big feety simcoey hops, caramel malt, tangerine, black pepper, and some funky belgian notes. Tastes of huge resiny hops, very malty, with some Belgian rock sugary malty and heavy bittering hints. Complex, dense on the palate, velvety on the tongue, with finishing resiny hops, tangerine, black pepper, and amazingly well hidden alcohol, this one is very good, and I hate to see it getting shit on the way it is.

Everything I don’t like in a DIPA is right here. Loads of caramel malt, boatloads of dirty bitterness peaking at an 8-9 and lingering a long while. At 10% the alcohol is masked decently. Not near enough aroma/flavor hops, though what is there is mandarin orangey. Big heavy body made heavier with almost zero carbonation. Tap at O’Brien’s, phone rate. Clear dark orange with a few off-white bubbles, fading to nothing by the tome I got to my table 15 feet away. I gave this back to the bartender. It’d be one thing if this was an old beer, but it doesn’t seem to be. Its just all bittering and not enough aroma, which with so many damn bittering hops, the beer isn’t as sweet as it seems to be.

On tap at Beer Revolution poured a hazy orange amber with a small lasting amber head. Aromas of biscuit, earthiness, light citrus and a hint of pine. Palate was medium bodied and crisp with a dry finish. Flavors of biscuit, earthiness, light citrus and a hint of pine with a crisp dry bitter lingering earthy finish.