 kramer (1875), sunbury, Pennsylvania, USA
Mar 28, 2006
500 ml swingtop handbottle, via sk8viking. Opens with an energetic poof and yields a dark copper body under a fluffy two finger slightly off-white head. Several streams of fine bubbles rise from the depths of my glass. The nose is just ridiculous, big citrusy hops like lemon pine sol over chewy caramel malt, with notes of lime zest and a touch of alcohol. Flavor wise, I think that the may have just liquified the hops and added them right to the bottle instead of adding them into the boil, but they’re just the opening act. The malt is so heavy it’s almost chewy. The finish starts with a huge smack of resin and pine, and ends with a warming alcohol flavored kick. I could tell this was fairly high in alcohol, but I would not have guessed 9.6%, very well masked. Thick full-bodied mouthfeel with lively carbonation keeps the palate refreshed and prevents it from being bogged down with all the malt. The finish is slightly sticky. Overall, this beer rules! This beer beats the pants off Dreadnaught and beats out Yulesmith for my favorite DIPA by quite a bit as well. One thing that I could not get over while drinking this was that this was hand-bottled by sk8viking. After the transatlantic voyage this retained every bit of carbonation expected from a DIPA and with no ill effects detectable in the flavor. If you want a great sample of this beer, I recommend you contact René. Thank you for the opportunity to try this great beer!
edelbrauer (21), Aalborg, Denmark
Sep 6, 2008 bottle, creamy head on a beautyful colored beer, dark orange, reddish highlights, perfectly clear..the fragrance is vinious with notes of raisin, fresh powerful hop invites you to taste it..flavor of delicious creamy caramel, bitter orange marmalade, impressive clean, pleasant and benevolent bitterness, lingers only shortly to make place for a long burnt caramel finish. Especially the balance between malty sweetness and bitterness is excellent.
MrBunn (853), Western, Pennsylvania, USA
Sep 1, 2008 Bottle. Pours a deep reddish amber with a large (2 or 3 finger) head. aromas are a lovely mix of pine, pineapple and sweet, caramel malt. Flavor is a mix of the above with a somewhat dusty earthiness to it that caught me a little by surprise, but helps give this some distinction from all the other IIPA’s clamoring out there with their heavy hops and thick and sticky maltiness. I’d have to say that this combination works well... The malt and hops work well together and there is much more complexity than I find in most IIPA’s... I don’ tknow if it is coming from the yeast or what, but there is a nice peppery thing going on that helps blend the flavors together. I just wish this wasn’t so darned expensive.
nearbeer (1237), Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
Aug 24, 2008 500 ml. Clear ruby-copper with a sticky and enduring 1/2-inch foam. Frosting everywhere. All kinds of sweet-earthy spiced aromas: molasses, vanilla, whiskey, oak, cinnamon, toffee butter. Tastes of caramel, orange, tea leaf, brown sugar, oak, pepper, whiskey, cocoa, toasted walnut, cherry, apple, butter, coffee, vanilla, white pepper, oak, thyme... the list could go on. Damne costly but damne goode! En Skaal Anders!
JFURYCAT (711), East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, USA
Jul 20, 2008 NEPA case club rocks again as do our buddies in Stockertown. This English style malt bomb marries a hop garden and delivers an orgasm of molasses, pine, grapefruit, cherries, currant with a port-like almost barley wine alcoholic warming to complete the mix. A nice pine cone bite in the end accompanies the initial sweet maple sugar invite.
KnN (281), Greenbelt, Maryland, USA
Jul 18, 2008 Nice deep copper color with a thick of white head. Aroma is very much the piney hop character with a little caramel and malt in the undertones.
Flavor is good bitter hops with a touch of malt sweetness Couldn’t tell this was a 9.6% ABV. Alcohol is well hidden. Nice imperial IPA.
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