ReaperAle Sleighor Double IPA

Excellent! Very fresh tasting and a buttload of citrus hops flavors abound. Finishes nice and clean. I wish they had this year round.

Pours amber-red with a one-finger white head. Excellent juicy, citrusy aroma with a good deal of malty sweetness. The flavor is more piney than citrusy, and this particular pine clashes a bit with the underlying maltiness. Even so, this one’s very good.

22 oz bomber. Contract brewed by Green Flash Brewing, for Reaper Ales, this beer is a classic example of "Double" or Imperial IPA. This beer is 80+ IBU’s, 9.1% abv, and is hopped with bale loads of Cascade, Centennial, and Columbus hops, then dry hopped with Amarillo. A no brainer for hop heads, Sleighor does not dissapoint. This beer pours to a brilliant, deep amber color, with a thick, creamy, white head, and a moderate carbonation. The nose on this beer is fantastic, with lots of big, pungent, zesty, piney/citrus hop aromas that flood the nose. The palate is rich and slick on the tongue, with lots of good caramel/sweet malt flavor, paired with lots of citrus/piney hop flavor. This beer finishes with more good malt and hop flavor up front, then ends with a very zesty, very bitter pine and citrus hop bite that linges with some peppery alcohol. Wow, remindes me a lot of young, fresh, Bigfoot. A very impressive hop cocktail of a brew, this is a great cocktail, and a wonderful beer to sip and savor.

22oz bottle from Bev Mo La Mesa. I love the labeling on this bottle.....classic! Pours a medium copper color with a nice off white head that left a lot of lacing on the glass. Aroma mostly of fresh hops with some citrus and a bit of sweet caramel malts. It basicaly smells like a pine tree that grows fruit (if that was possible). I look forward to this brew every year. I need to buy some and hide them from my roomate.

Amber with a light head and spots of lace. Sweet bubblegum aromas with some citrus tones and bitter hops. Flavor is made up of sweet malts and bitter hops. It is fruity and earthy with a some heat. There is a hint of tobacco floating around as well. Finishes thick and sweet with chewy malts.

22 oz bottle, via fordest. Pours a clear bright reddish hued amber under a large frothy bone white head. Moderate amounts of fine carbonation rising gently. Aroma is a well balanced tripod of syrupy caramel malt, piney citric hops, and alcohol. Lighter notes of toffee and grapefruit. Flavor is aggressively bitter up front and finishes quite malty before returning to bitterness. This stuff’s got some hop juice. The malt balances well though and the alcohol is moderate. Mouthfeel is full bodied and almost syrupy with moderate pinpoint carbonation. Overall, this was decent. Doesn’t have the complexity and depth of a great IIPA though.

On tap at Stuffed Sandwich. It was my 1st time there and Sam yelled at me as soon as I got to the counter, you gotta love the guy. This poured a dark amber color with a nice foamy head. Big hops in the aroma, some sweet caramel also present. Flavor is similar to the aroma, lots of hops but the malt and hops just don’t seem to come together. I really liked this one, but there was just something about it that I couldn’t put my fingure on.

Poured amber orange color with a nice intial head and ok retention. Lacing was weak. The aroma was of grapefruits, caramel, and some pine. Flavor followed suit with some floral, leathery fruit type flavors (apricot), and a very strong, lingering bitter finish (a serious bittering hop in this one). The mouthfeel was nice for a dIPA, the dry bitterness fending off any stickiness that may have otherwise been there. A decent dIPA, but very bitter.