Moylans Hopsickle Imperial India Pale Ale

Brewed by Moylans Brewery & Restaurant
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Novato, California USA

A - This is how a DIPA should look. A hazy, golden orange color with a off color head and nice sticky lace. S - Smells incredible. Exploding hop aroma of pungent, simcoe, grapefruit, grassy, piney....just fantastic. T - Very nice flavor. The extreme hop flavor actually left me wanting more bittering hops to balance the oily hop flavors. M - Very nice. On par with other fine examples of the style. D - I never thought I would find a beer that was too hoppy for me. If merely a pint, I might have different thoughts...but the 22 oz was a bit much. The hop oils just coated my mouth and became unpleasant towards the end. Kudos to the brewers as the experience is just as advertised. A low drinkability should serve as a tipping of the hat.

Aroma of a pine forest colliding with a grapefruit grove.....hops everywhere exploding out of the middle of the collision. Honey light brown with a white foamy and sticky head. Wow is this thing an all out hop assault.....not that this is a bad thing. Lots of malt to keep it from being bitter, but that is a losing battle to the supremacy of the hop overload. Long bitter finish. Just a delight and a study in unbalanced hoppy goodness.

Bottle. Poured a hazy orange with an amber hue. Aroma was full of pine hops with a bit of grass and citrus. More citrus at the beginning of the flavor, but still a very strong hop finish. Particularly dry through out.

Hazy orange. Sweet, sticky hop aroma. A tease of a head. Very bitter finish. This is an overwhelming amount of hoppage. Yay!

Bottled@Konttori, Tampere. Golden colour, small white head. Aroma is fruity and grassy in a rather dry and bitter way. Flavour is quite much exactly the same along with earthy dryness. Way too dry.

New bottle design (multi-color), sampled summer 2006. Slightly hazy amber, very slight. Generous lacey head that lasts forever. Nose is quite assertive with pleasant metal/steel, pine, and chalk. On the palate is a big, chewy malt sweetness with a beautiful balancing hop tang. Wow, this one tugs and pulls in each direction so nicely. Complex. Inspiring. Finish is softer than expected but leaves a pleasant dry marshmallowy sweetness and hop tartness. Very appetizing for the next sip.

Bomber from Holiday Wine Cellar. Pours a dark amber with one finger of off-white foam. Of course, the aroma is dominated by hop tones (grapefruit, pineapple, floral, light pine, earthy/spicy) along with a certain soapy quality. The aroma is good, but the flavor is somewhat disappointing. The hops come on too strong with very sticky/grassy/earthy tones (not much fruit). The malt backbone is strong and emerges after the initial hop shock, leading into a finish that is surprisingly not that bitter consider how this whole thing started. Feels too syrupy and heavy without the "refreshing" feeling of many other IPA’s and DIPA’s. All in all it’s okay, but it could certainly be more balanced. I consider myself to be a hophead, but this really begs the question: Is it possible for there to be too much hops? Apparently so. Other "triple" IPA’s (Pliny the Younger, Exponential Hoppiness) find the necessary balance. Not so much here...

Bottle at Volo. Pours a orange/copper colour with good-sized white head; nice lacing. Huge hoppy nose and flavour - very resiny. Pretty big body; very bitter finish. A nice, big beer.