Offshore Stonewall Imperial IPA

Draught tulip at Publick House on 4/24/07
This was just tapped an hour or so ago and shows a fluffy beige head atop a surprisingly reddish-amber body. High clarity, but with a slight chill haze. Moderate retention and lacing, light carbonation seen in the liquid.
Very dry in the nose, of course in part due to the hops, but also from the medium malts, it seems. Bready, almost nutty and very well-attenuated, the lack of a mess of syrupy-sweet malt helps accentuate the English malt-like notes, and the fresh, unpasteurized yeast is along for the ride as well. Citric hops seem to be most dominant, though there’s something leafy/herbal in the background as well. The citrus notes combine with the crusty/bready malts to produce a sort of marmalade-like nose, with a bit of candied orange and toffee. Medium-high strength of aroma, showing no alcohol or flaws. Not a West coast, fruity/tropical/pine concoction in any way, but well-done in its own right (despite my preference for 100% pale malted DIPAs).
Some scratchy malts are quick to emerge in flavor, growing lightly bready and showing plenty of integration with the citrus. It gains some red fruitiness (strawberries, raspberries, cherries) and the biscuity, dry toffee-like maltiness stays very dry to the finish. Soft pale malts grace the palate, as an afterthought, and lemon and orange zestiness linger on. Medium bodied and drinks easily, lacking much of the superfluous heft carried by many of its peers. Alcohol is well-controlled in flavor, no flaws show through. I’d prefer the slightly loose carbonation to be a bit more creamy, to concentrate the maltiness (seems a bit too dry/bready, overall).

Hazy deep gold/light amber in color with a rich,thick off-white head of foam. Aroma of fresh hops,citrus, oranges,grapefruit,piney, bready malt and yeast. Incredible combination of dense bready/biscutiy malt character and hop bitterness upfront, hops lingering and zap your tongue with spiciness to the finish and long after. Full body bodied IPA with a creamy mouthfeel. A great unfilitered IPA..like they all should be, one of the most balanced Imperia IPAs I can ever recall having, hope this makes the bottle lineup down the road.