Magic Hat Batch 375 (Imperial IPA)

Formerly brewed at Magic Hat Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
South Burlington, Vermont USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip

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12oz bottle shared courtesy of weeare138. Poured a deep golden color with an small sized off white head. Aromas of bubblegum, pine, caramel, and citrus. The bubblegum was strong and kind of drowned out the other aromas. Tastes of pine, caramel, and citrus. Grapefruit bitter finish.

Any first impressions?
-Yellow clarity is topped by creamy foam development.
-Citrusy hoppiness, spoiled hay, and sand join in a puzzling aroma which foretells dryness.
-Orange juice dripping on a haystack, generously salted; a curious flavor profile for a double IPA.
-The smooth carbonation exposes the thinnish mouthfeel.

What if you dig deeper?
-There is a touch of butterscotch in the nose.
-The important hop bitterness and dryness evokes sandpaper, or cat litter box (Simcoe hops?).
-The feeble maltiness is disappointing.
-This is a fine beer for a hop kick, but I can’t say I find the recipe all that pleasant.

Bottle; no date.

Had this at Clark’s Ale House cask ale fest, and it was the clear winner. Very juicy hops taste-must be a variety of hops and very fresh. I took only two samples to leave some for others. C-hop aroma, and orangey colour with detergent like head. Satisfying mouthfeel.

Sampled at the brewery and a growler sample. Pours yellowish with a nice white head. Smells citrussy with some nice floral hops. Taste is malty with a nice string hop presence. I hope this one makes it out as a general release.

Thanks to obeygiant for this one. Pours deep copeery with ruby edges and off-white head. Nose is caramel malt, hops, vinous fruit. Tastes very hoppy in a piney sticky sense, with some caramel maltm, vinous fruit, and a smooth albeit slightly watery mouthfeel. Not bad, but I wish i could have had this one fresh.

Clearish or barely hazed light amber coloured. Faint white head. Kinda mineral, earthy, not very clean nose. Rather chaotic ringwood display present a more than heavily attenuated final product with the typical butteriness to match. The result lends a rather oily texture to the already lazy malts and unfortunately, the hops don’t manage to shine on their own, being of one (or several) of these weird varietals that provide lots of bitterness, but barely dry earthiness and siding citrusy notes that fail to gain the necessary confidence. At the same time, the mouthfeel is rather thin for its weight, with unstable carbonation.

Not very big for a DIPA. The body’s a hazy yellowed orange topped with a chunky off white head that dissolves in said chunkc, "lacing" the sides of the glass in thick chunks. The aroma is a light caramel buried under grapefruit and pineapple. Medium bodied. The malt is even lighter in the flavor, but the hoppy bitterness grows, still grapefruit and pineapple with a hit of earthiness. The finish is both sweet candy and a piney bitterness, the latter not being especially strong for the style. Just okay.

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Draught. At Cole’s in Buffalo, NY - shared with blankboy. Clear deep gold with an average-to-small off-white head - truly beautiful lace. An odd perfume/ketone aroma hit my nose, can’t describe other than to say "that ain’t right", pretty mild citrus/herbal hop character, sweet yet not really malty. Taste - again, a bit odd - a floral sweetness at first, then an on-rush of bitter grapefruit pith hops, really strong, overpowering and long lasting. Average body, incredibly astringent, acidic even, mild carbonation, a long unbalanced bitter finish with a mouth-coating resiny/grapefruit zest aftertaste - an interesting hop experience, but way too aggressive - I like a little malt, or at least to not have the hops push me in the mud and demand my lunch money!

Poured a dark golden color with a small, off white head that left light lacing on the glass. Aroma of floral hops, light citrus, caramel malts, some nuts, and bubblegum. Taste of more caramel malts, with pine, citrus fruits, and a bitter grapefruit finish.

Draught at Cole’s in Buffalo, NY. Pours a clear golden-orange with an average size mostly-lasting off-white head. Nice lacing. Aroma’s a little weird to me: hops, fruit, some sweetness and something odd that I can’t place (and not in a good way). Flavour starts fruity and sweet followed by the hops and a huge lasting bitter finish -- even for this hophead this is incredibly bitter. Medium bodied. Just O.K., it’s somewhat unbalanced and there’s something odd about it I’m not crazy about.