Pisgah Vortex I

Brewed by Pisgah Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Black Mountain, North Carolina USA

Serve in Shaker, Snifter

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pours amber with a nice big foamy beige head. Leaves some nice lace on the glass. notes of pine, mango, clitrusy hops, grapefruit, bread, caramel, and booze, especially as it warms.

Rating #1100! Bottle opened on the bus ride from Tampa Bay Brewing Co. to Dunedin Brewing Co. Pours clear orange color with off white head. Grapefruit hops aroma. Nice hop bitterness balance well wth caramel malts. Medium body with average carbonation with a sticky mouthfeel. Thanks to KP for sharing this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlI__uOBONo&fea

Bomber. Pours a deep orange-amber with a tall stand of ecrue head. The aroma is quite lovely, full of tangerine, orange, apricot, peach, wildflowers, honey, a little bit of pine, slight bubblegum, only a distant trace of alcohol, some herbal tea, and just a tiny bit of ginger and oriental spices. The flavor isn’t quite as fruity as the nose, but is more focused on the piney hops (what I usually get from Chinook). Some herbal and floral nuances keep it from being too one dimensional. As it moves through my mouth it takes on a strong toasted wood quality. This leads to a semi-dry, quite bitter finish with lots of pine, some tannicity, some lemon, a little bit of cashew, and some apricot. Warm alcohol follows, and into the aftertaste all that citrus fruit I got in the aroma reappears. Very good beer... I paired it with some pulled pork bbq I made and it worked out quite well. Yum.

22 from Brusin’ Ales muled back from Ethan. Pours hazy amber orange with huge frothy off-white head. Really lovely. Nose shows pretty much equal parts malt and hops... candied orange and pineapple. Also sweet piney resin. Really wish I could appreciate the hops here, but instead of balancing, the malt asserts itself too much. A bit astringent. Not bad, but not my favorite beer (from one of my favorite breweries).

Pours hazy amber with a thick beige head. Smells sweet and tart. Bitter taste with some dark fruit. Funky bitter finish, but I was shocked to see that it is 133 IBU. Doesn’t seem like it is all it could be.

Sampled @ GABF! Burnt tangerine color with a small ivory head. Decent orange peel aroma with a bit of caramel. Flavor is quite sweet and a little cloying with honey, toffee, and malt. Hops are present but hide a bit in the background. ABV hidden pretty well.

Hazy amber with a large off-white head. Aroma is of bubble gum, citrus, apricot, spices, pine and hops. Taste is of hops, pine, grass and earth.

Dark copper color with a thin bubbly head. Super hoppy aroma, with a slight dried fruit backing to it, somewhat like apricots. It was a good IPA, but it was more like a barley then an IPA, but still a good beer.

Draught. This pours a rich, cloudy red with a level tan head. It seems a bit darker than the average IIPA, though I guess this is one of those supposed triple IPA’s. The aroma is plenty tangy with grapefruit and pine and a fruitier sweet aroma like apples and berries. The mouthfeel is pretty par for the beer course, providing a medium level of viscosity. The hops are right up front with an initial blast of non-descript acidity which fades rather rapidly to a woody taste like bark. All around, more floral, fruity notes comprise the flavor profile along with touches of acidic tones that resemble pineapple. The finish leaves a hint of toffee and wood on the palate. I’ve noticed a particular floral/berry flavor in most of Pisgah’s hoppier brews and this one includes it as well. It’s a pleasing sensation that works well with this style. I went downstairs to get the official description and I’m very surprised to see this listed as 133 IBU’s and 10.8% ABV. I’d never guess that. This makes a fine sipper, but it certainly does not pack the depth or intensity I’d look for in the style.

Pours a hazy dark amber/orange color with a two finger frothy white head that has pretty good retention, slowly fading into a lasting ring. Sporadic lacing left behind. Citrus and floral hop aroma with hints of pine, grapefruit, orange peel and pineapple. Subtle malt backbone with Graham and biscuit. On the lighter end of medium bodied with a blast of bitter and sweet hops up front that linger throughout into a dry finish. Lots of floral and citrus hop flavor with hints of mango, pineapple and grapefruit as well as some pine needle and a spicy, grassy character. Nice malt backbone that provides balance without overpowering. Hints of caramel, biscuit and Graham cracker. Wellmbalanced and pretty quaffable.