Midnight Sun Obliteration III

Formerly brewed at Midnight Sun Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Anchorage, Alaska USA

Medium-dark amber-gold with a thin white head. Aroma consists of a dark hops profile with apricot, pink grapefruit, some stonefruit, orange, and a touch of earth and spice over subtle malt characteristics. Flavor is is thick and densely bitter with spicy, earthy herbaceousness over a strong malt structure--not overly sweet but alcohol is present. Comes across quite strong in the body and is a touch out of balance.

22 oz bottle. This is one great frickin’ IIPA. Pours hazy amber, big creamy head with a lot of lacing. Aroma of citrus and fresh hops. Flavor is similiar with a slight sweetness from the caramel malts and hints of pine. Oily mouthfeel, with a lingering bitter finish. I also like the fact that the alcohol is not insanely high, which makes this IIPA not to sweet and focuses more on the hoppiness. This is such a easy drinking beer. Great job MS.

Hazy rufous. Frothy white cream cakes the glass with patchy lacework. Unappealing nose is dominated by pungent resinous hops. Secondary notes of apple jelly, tangerine, grass, pine, nectarine, and minty alcohol. Soft and creamy on the palate. Resinous hops unleash a tongue-lashing sting as ensuing notes of assorted-citrus zest slowly emerge and compound the forceful bitterness. Notable array of underlying hop flavors take a backseat to the brutish force and unrefined nature of the tacky resins. Minty sweep of alcohol lifts some of the brash oily residue from the palate and unveils softer, more succulent dabs of pink grapefruit, mango, peach and zingy nectarine. Oily hops still manage to virtually deaden the palate and remain at the forefront throughout. Nutty malts are well-defined and complementary, but accelerate palate fatigue as they compound the sweetly sappy resins with their strong caramel and dextrinous impact. Gooey resins contribute far too much weight which not only drastically hinders drinkability, but sorely tarnishes the vibrant hop nuances as well. Aspirin astringency (undoubtedly Amarillo) further taints the more delicate hop flavors as it uncleanly thrashes about the palate. Finishes persistently sweet and oily yet with a gradually intensifying spicy-hop and grapefruit rind punctuation. I’d love to see less emphasis on the resin and more emphasis on the soft flowery and citric qualities. As is, it comes off as rather unpolished and one dimensional.

Ok bottle from neighbor and let me tell you this is a damn good IMP IPA. Great pour, great aroma and great taste. WOW.

22 oz bottle. Foggy amber with a beige head. Nose is caramel, tangerine and grapefruit juice. Almost medium body with a slight tingle. Taste is nectarine and grapefruit pith. Dry, bitter, spicy finish.

Big bottle. I have not tried Obliteration I or II yet. Sticky thick off-white head on dark amber. Moderate juicy nose, more citrus than pine. Liquid hop flavour. The first mouthful sends a wave of alcohol warmth. Lots of juicy citrus flavour up front. Pine and wood in the back. Just a hint of the sandiness when the hops are too extreme. A hint of syrup in the body but tough to hold all those hops. Not sure if the pepper on my tongue is from the extreme hops or the pepper jerky.

22oz bottle shared courtesy of TomDecapolis. Poured a medium amber color with a larger sized off white head. Wow, nice hop aromas of pine, citrus, and floral green hops. Tastes of pine, caramel, citrus, and floral. Hop lovers like me should enjoy this one!

Bomber from hopdog. Thanks dude! Pours cloudy orange brown with a nice bubbly head. Aromas are strongly hopped with notes of pine, grapefruit, cat piss, and floral notes. Some pale malt too. Bitterness up front with lots of pine, grapefruit, and perfume followed by a light sweet caramel and pale malts, finishes with more pine, perfume, grapefruit, pepper, and cat. Dry, resiny, lingering bitter/spicy pepper. Medium carbonation renders this one insanely drinkable. I like that the brewers toned down the gravity but didn’t skimp on the hops making a great big bitter IIPA that is not sweet at all, has a nice light maltiness, and is insanely drinkable. Call me crazy, but a little similar to Pliny the Elder? Would love to try them side to side. This beer reminds me why I love IIPA’s.