Midnight Sun Obliteration III

Bottle sampled on 5/22/08: Pours a transparent orange golden with a spotty-lacing white head. Aroma of lightly sweet toasty caramel malt and assertive resiny piny notes. Body starts with good fullness and crisp grapefruity bittering and flavor hops toward a drier finish. A nice imperial IPA.

First thought was the very different hop profile as compared to the Obliteration 2. More of a grassy herbal hoppiness as oppossed to the more citrus approach of the 2. Still enjoyable although herbal hops really aren’t my thing.

22oz bottle. Showing a bit of age on the nose as the hops have seemingly died down a bit. The malt almost has as much aromatic presence as the hops. Light grapefruit and pine, with a touch of juicy frutiness (apricots)? Plenty of caramel and toffee. Some wet grass, tree bark and a touch of cardboard... not too distracting though. Maybe some lemon zest as it warms up. Pours a brilliant, clear dark amber with a creamy white head that leaves plenty of drippy and sticky lace. Flavor is good... but not great. Sticky crystal malt and bitter, non-expressive hops. Bread crust, astringent and "green" hop tannin, citrus zest, grassy... bitter citrus peel. Leaning toward full bodied. Creamy mouth feel with an abrasively tannic hop finish. I’m pretty sure this was excellent when it was fresh, but the hop profile on the palate just seems... off. Fairly abrasive and bitter and lacking the nuance of some other IIPA’s. Decent, but probably a shell of it’s former self. Definitely more of an ASA than an IIPA these days. Thanks for the bottle Todd!

Bottle. Amber pour. Aroma is tropical fruits, grapefruit and malt. Flavor is hoppy and malty and has some great tropical fruits. This is a fine, fine beverage!

Found a couple bottles of this at Market of Choice in Portland, OR. A truly lucky find since it hasn’t been seen in the Portland area for about a year! Colour... hazy amber. Nose... redolent of Scotch pine, grapefruit skin and pith and freshly crushed hops. Palate... WOW! Incredibly hoppy for how long it has been in the bottle! Piney, resinous, more grapefruit, well balanced with malt but still plenty o’ hop zip. Liked it a smidge better then the Obliteration II

Bomber from hopdog. Very nice IPA. Reminds me of hop 15. Lots of melanoidins. Little bit of age on this bottle, which has probably supressed the hops a little, but no cardboard oxidation. Very nice.

Marvellously balanced, tasty high hop beer. Very drinkable, no my favourite style but outstanding for what it is. Pours grapefruit colour,decent head, and significant hop aromas. Easy mouthfeel and drinking,secondary malt is well integrated.

Hazy amber beer with a foamy thin yellowish head. Lots of hops in the nose dominated by candied grapefruit rinds and warming alcohol. Nice, velvety mouthfeel. Flavors of grapefruit rind, apple sauce and some pineapple. Nice balanced finish for a very nice IIPA.