Le Cheval Blanc Imperial India

Brewed by Le Cheval Blanc
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Montreal, Canada

Serve in Snifter, Tulip

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An hazy, almost opaque, reddish brown ale with a thin lacing white head. A pleasant resinous hops strikes at you right away, very pungeant, with light caramel notes. In mouth, a true I2PA, with a crisp malt, intense floral hops, loads of grapefruit, a bit too much even, with light alcohol in finale. Overall, a nice winter beer to sip. 14 on. glass (4$) at Brewpub. 

My Bottom Line:
Orange-laden sweet pale malts build a creamy mouthfeel within which the leafy and wooden hop flavor and bitterness happily grow. Laden with flavor, this Double IPA remains drinkable and balanced throughout; a novel idea...

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A sturdy sheet of foam decorates the cloudy amber.
-This keg was aged 12 months, which apparently allowed to reach balance.
-The nose is definitely the part which suffered the most from the aging; otherwise this experiment worked wonderfully well.
-Hops and yeast merge to offer minty sweetness.

On tap at the brewpub.

At 1 year old, this still pours with a huge off-white head to cover the murky dark golden hue. How bitter this must have been, for it is still quite bitter as it is, yet not as aromatic as you would imagine it has been. Soft biscuity malts are overshadowed by the citrusy hops and floral hoppy bite. If you know Cheval Blanc, you know that the yeastiness will still be playing an above average role, attenuating the palate sufficiently to ensure a high drinkability. Intense piney finish. One of their best perhaps.

On tap at Brewpub 8% batch, 110IBU
Hazed, cloudy amber, fine creamy top. Neat ornamental lace left behind.
Strong bitter hop aroma, green hops (wet leaf), sweeter malt at base.
Very bitter, essence of raw hops, slightly citric. More like lesser brother India Rogue, but this one is much bolder in its character. Potent, raw, bold and fairly simple. I prefer finer samples.

Draught. At Le Cheval Blanc, courtesy of Goldrak. Nice amber pour, average head, I think it might have been a tad cloudy. Loved the aroma - solid citrus hops and waves of pungent resin, wow, huge hops, fairly restrained alcohol, decent malt - tasted that way too, left my tongue tingling from the acidity in the hops - a really nice kick to it. Had a more "British" ale mouthfeel, dry, astringent/acidic, but American bigness, that crisp hoppy finish just kept rolling on. 3-4 pints of this would really mess me up - not the alcohol, the effect of that resin hoppiness!

Very cloudy orange-brown body with a short lived off-white head. This is one intense and extreme IPA. A well balanced beer it is not. Full of very resinous hops with very high bitterness. Truly feels handcrafted, as far from a “clean” beer as it gets. Dirty body, like if they’ve thrown in entire hop plants and tree barks. Caramel juice and pine tree resin flavours. Intense to the point of being hard to drink quickly. 7.5% is absolutely perfect. More bitter than a once-millionaire following a divorce with a 20 year old bombshell without prenuptial agreement. I liked it a lot.

Draught at Le Cheval Blanc. As GregClow mentions, this is towards the end of a night of Montreal bar-hopping so my notes aren’t awesome. Here’s what I can decipher: Pours a slightly cloudy orange-amber with an average size white head. Nice aroma of citrus hops backed by caramel malt. Good amount of hops in the flavour but still well balanced with the malt, it’s quite tasty. Alcohol fairly well hidden. A very good DIPA! Thanks to our tour guides Goldorak & Glouglouburp for a great night!

En fût. Verre ballon de 14 oz à la brasserie. Arôme: Odeur d’houblon avec une pointe de caramel. Apparence: La couleur est emabrée voilée. Présence d’un moyen col mousseux avec une fine dentelle sur le verre. Saveur: Goût d’houblon (conifère) avec une pointe d’épices. Longue durée de l’arrière goût. Palette: Le corps est moyen avec une texture légèrement crémeuse. Moyenne effervescence en bouche. (Rating #858)

Pours a murky brown color with ruby highlights and a medium, creamy, offwhite head. Strong, assertive aroma and flavor of resinous, piney hops with some underlying malt. The bitter finish is intense, lasting and has a rough edge. The body is light to medium with a creamy texture and moderate carbonation. Personally, I prefer the non-imperial IPA.

Kick-ass citrus hops aroma, piney too, deep orange/red, ’’tequila sunrise,’’ small off-white head. Huge bitter taste of oranges, grapefruit and kumquats. Full bodied, bitter as heck. Great!