Oskar Blues Gordon

Brewed by Oskar Blues Grill & Brew
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Lyons, Colorado USA

Poured from a 12-oz can an orange color with a fluffy head. Has a sweet candy smell. A nice smooth taste, which really hides the alcohol. A sticky hop flavor of pine and grapefruit. Some nice malt balanced out the hops for a very drinkable beer.

A great beer. Another balanced, strong, hoppy, malty and complex beer. So much going on: Caramel, big hops, breadiness and a sticky palate. Not that clean, but that’s not always what you want. A great winter warmer to enjoy with a light cigar next to the fireplace with a big leatherbound book (with the aroma of rich mahogany in the background, of course).

Poured deep amber, with a decent off white head. Aroma was malty with lots of piney hops. Flavor is rich maltiness, sweet caramel, hoppy bitterness. Thick mouthfeel

Hazy copper amber with a rich tannish head. Looks good. Hoppy, floral, pine and citrus aroma. Smells good. Balanced malt and hops, chocolate and caramel as well. Nice finish and palate, this is a fine beer.

Really hazy, deep rusty orange color with thick tan head and lacing. Rustic, rusty, earthy hopped nose. Smells thick. Soft but enthusiastic carbonation. Sweet entry, passing through layers of caremelized fruits before rounding out to a crisp hop finish. Bready without being burnt. Chewy but very nice.

Red-amber with a bubbly, off-white/beige head. Odd nose of sugary malt, caramel, pine, and dank wood. Flavor is similar with lots of hop bite, caramel, piney citrus. Good beer.

Appearance is cloudy orange-to-brown hue with a fair amount of moderate white foam that dissipates to a ring, big sticky lacing on the glass. Smell is mostly piney hops with slight citrus, sweet caramel malts, alcohol, and a touch of (dare I?) chocolate peppermint! Taste is characterized initially by those unique piney/floral hops and flowing quickly to biscuity/caramel malts, some sugary sweet spices, citrus, and chocolate pop up and this finishes mostly sweet and bitter. Mouthfeel is medium-bodied, thick and oily texture coats the mouth, moderate carbonation. Drinkability is moderate, I would like to have seen more of a hop presence here but it scores points for balance, the sweet profile is a little strange (like chocolate and candy mixed) and detracts a bit from drinking in larger quantities, i like Gordon but it definitely falls behind Dale’s and Old Chubb IMHO.

Can from South Bay Drugs. Pours a sort of mahogany color with a rich formation of cream layered head. The nose is mild with malt being over dominant compared to the amount of hops. However the flavor is different and allows more tasting of a toned down west coast hop bite and light reminder of a sweet caramel malt variation.