 CaptBier (253), Birmingham, Alabama, USA
May 10, 2008
Bottle. Pours a nice rich copper color with great white soapy head. Aroma is nice with sweet hops and nice floral tones. The initial taste is nice with pleasant bitterness but ends rather abruptly with a dry, sour, bitter finish. It seems they started off well and just kind of got tired of it before they finished it.
tjthresh (1318), Greenfield, Indiana, USA
Oct 7, 2008 Pours murky orange with a resilient dirty white head. Excellent lace. Big pine aroma with quite a bit of citrus as well. Kind of a citrus cocktail. Mostly grapefruit and tangerine. There’s a sweet malty note as well. Pretty much all hop flavor. Lots of grapefruit. LOTS OF GRAPEFRUIT. Bombastic bitter finish. Full body with a heavy syrup mouthfeel. The finish is just bitter. Bitter, bitter, bitter. Really not a bad thing to say about this one.
surlysober (40), Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Sep 20, 2008 SECOND TRIAL: Orange body with a thick white head that slowly recedes and provides beautiful lacing; aroma is an overwhelming load of pine-y, citrus-y, resin-y hops; flavor is aggressively bitter right from the start with tons of earth-y, resin-y hoppiness, and some acridity and alcohol burn (not too much) in the finish, which stays stuck to your palate like superglue. It’s funny to see the description say "enormous malt backbone" because I certainly couldn’t detect it through all the hops in this beer. But, that’s not really a bad thing... It’s quite enjoyable to taste a beer that excels in hoppiness and this is a fantastic brew the way only a West Coast Double IPA can be.
DrBayern (976), Morehead City, North Carolina, USA
Sep 20, 2008 Date: 09/20/08, 22 oz. bottle
Aroma - Big hoppy aroma of citrus and pine, undertones of stone fruit and honey
Appearance - Hazy oange pour under a solid, medium white head that is persistent and leaves a thick, clingy lace.
Flavor - The IBU onslaught starts early in this one, and just keeps on coming, like biting into a grapefruit peel. Supporting light malts are substantial with a floral honey sweetness, but that is really secondary. Needless to say, a long, bitter finish is the last nail in the coffin.
Palate - Medium body and carbonation, resinous and bitter.
Overall - An excellent double IPA, lots of fresh hoppy aroma and flavor, alcohol well hidden, very satisfying.
mreusch (460), Olathe, Kansas, USA
Sep 18, 2008 22oz. bomber, pours a clear orange golden with a large foamy tan head, great retention and lots of lace. Aroma is big on the hops as expected, with pine, resin, citrus, and some caramel malts. Flavor reinforces the pine/resin theme, with plenty of lingering bitterness. Not much balance here to keep it interesting, but alright if you’re looking for a hop bomb that borders on being a tongue scraper. Personally, I like their Hopsickle much better.
Heathen (521), Riverside, New Jersey, USA
Sep 17, 2008 THOUGHTS: A really nice DIPA, but nothing special. Hid alcohol well. I could feel it in the belly but that was about it.
TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a medium to dark orange with an average to large, slightly off-white head that left good lacing. The aroma was moderate caramel malt; heavy pine resin and citrus hops and then some band-aid. The initial flavor was moderately sweet and lightly bitter; while the finish was heavily sweet and moderate to heavily bitter with an average to long duration. There was caramel malt, grapefruit and orange hops, then some resinous pine. The medium to full body was oily with soft carbonation and a light astringent finish.
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