Alpine Beer Company Exponential Hoppiness

Brewed by Alpine Beer Company (CA)
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Alpine, California USA

Growler purchased today at the Brewery. Shared with Naven and Bartzilla. This is damn good beer, but sadly after having it earlier back to back with Alpine Nelson this stuff just doesn’t cut it. Pours cloudy amber witha thin milky white head. Aroma is sweet sharp and big on the hoppiness factoral. The taste put a lot big hoppy citrus in the front with a nice mellow hop along the back end. Very drinkable, not very bitter very fresh very clean, very good. Alcohol is very well hidden sneaks up on you. Still taste wise I’ll take Nelson any day.

On tap at the Liars Club in San Diego, CA. Maybe the second best IPA I ever tasted. WOW! Golden coloured with a medium sized head. Hops, hops and more hops. But still very wellrounded and wellbalanced. Nice complexity.

I had this beer On tap at O’ Brian’s, San Diego. a very balanced beer that is golden in color. A lot of sweetness to wiegh out the bitterness. Not as IBU as I expected.

On tap at the Liar’s Club. Transparent, honey lemon colored pour with a finger of sustaining sudsy white, small bubbled head. The aroma is a lusciously crafted perfume of hops. Sweet orange blossoms, blue spruce, honey, asian pear, and apple skins blend together in perfect harmony. Medium bodied, slightly sticky body with nice lacing on the sides of my glass. The flavors are dripping with hordes of hops and all the classic hop characters, combining the bitterness, spiciness, and even sweetness dimensions that any hophead would die for. Finish is smooth and clean withough being excessively bitter. Wow, this is a delicious one. The balance is incredibly floral and so, so good. On par with the yulesmith as far as multi-dimensioned hop character crafting is concerned, but thats my opinion. Incredibly drinkable in addition to the amazing flavor, aroma, etc. Winner.

On tap @ O’briens: a dense brass color with perfect fluff of head. Aroma is undeniable and boast a lively aroma of fresh picked hops. Flavor is the same with huge hop profile resembling grapefruit mainly and pine as well. Light hint of alcohol is apparent. I’m sure this could be smelt on my person hours after consumption. I do question the phrase "Most dangerous beer in America", since i was ready to take on another. I’m glad i was able cross paths with this monster though.

Growler fill from brewery. Still poured with a firm off white head and a crystal clear golden color. Aroma is hops. If you have ever taken a fist full of hop and rubbed them in between your hand, this is how the beer smells. And not any hops but smooth citrusy american hops. Flavor has a good honeyish malt base then flows into a malestrom of hop flavor. Not too much hop bitterness going on but penty of late boil and post boil additions present. A San Diego Pale Ale at its finest.

Both cask and draught from Liar’s Club. I could not get over the (definitely awesome) vanilla impression that I was left with taste after taste. My two drinking buddies not only disagreed, but didn’t even get a whiff or taste of vanilla in their experience (buddies were there for draught, not cask). I’m guessing Simcoe, but I believe there is more at work in that hop mix. Very rich. Yes as far as the hops breakdown goes, sure, there is some of the citrusy and even grapefruit bits, not much of the piney bits though. If only I could discern what is bringing that vanilla taste to the tongue. Truly mysterious and impeccable in quality. Instead of "nectar of the gods" I’ll just say it is some totally rad and individualistic stuff.

On sample a the brewery. Absolutely fantastic. Hop explosion with good alcohol notes. The hops do a good job of leading you to believe that you can drink a full growler of this. I outta know because I tried doing just that and got completely devastated. In a good way. Alpine makes great beers. They understand the importance of obscene amounts of hops. Very friendly folks too!