Alpine Beer Company Pure Hoppiness

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

On draught at brewery. Any hopheads out there that have not tried this beer are missing out. The headbrewer instructed me that he uses three pounds of dry hops per barrel. And it shows. This beer is very full bodied though not sweet. It has a creaminess that is reminiscent of some stouts. The smooth maltiness helps balance the huge amount of hops that are used. This one earns any awards that are given to it.

I have had this beer in Draft and bottled format, and it’s yet to dissapoint. Big, beautiful amber gold color. Wonderful, Piney citrus taste. This is everything an IIPA should be. Love it.

On cask into pint glass, Real Ale Fest 2005, PP Carlsbad. I must confess up front that I overdosed on hops at this festival. My ratings might be lower than they would have been because of that. Clear light orange in the glass is a nice touch, considering most of these have been hazier. Creamy white head of medium size. Smells of grapefruit, orange peel and sugar cane. Smooth and nicely bodied in the mouth, this is straightforwardly a hopy IPA with nice bittering in the finish. There’s some unrefined sugar in the middle that adds sweetness, but seems like a somewhat feeble attempt at malt balance.

On tap at O’brien’s in Kerny Mesa. Poured a nice clear orange, with a light off white head. Very heavy aroma of cascade hops and pine. A very very hoppy beer.

Pours a clear orange with a small head. Pungent fruity aroma with a hint of resin. In the mouth, fruity hops layer with bitter. It’s clearly a complex beer, but I’m not sure I have the skill to describe all thats there.

Another birthday treat from my wife! Transparent, magnifying and pale copper/orange in color with a thin, oily ice sheaf for the head and sticky, white, web-cast lacing. (Consecutive pours yield a creamy, 1/2" foam layer for the head.) Aromatic profoundness asserts with sweet, bitter grapefruit rind, strawberry field offshoots, tart mandarin, sugared & dried nectarines, squishy apricots and greasy potato chips. Later wafts yield much of the same, with an occasional interjection of herbal butter. Orange powder flavor demands attention, while apricots - christened with candi - round out a citric surge. Olive oil on unbaked, raw, quartered potatoes. Relentless sweet bitterness feels right at home. Hops clinch the throat, and bitterness seeps in and smacks the tongue like a hairbrush to a sunburn. Something divisive etches away at the fleshy inner cheek layers. Just enough orange toffee sweetness to support the hop schedule, finishing with sweet golden corn husks, mandarin salad dressings, bitter orange peel and a prickly, arid sensation that’s sucking at the tongue’s sensory elements. Good times.

Alpine’s IPA’s are some of the best, and this is no different. Orange-gold pour with very little head. Thick aroma of citrus and piney hops and a bit of malt. The taste is epic. The grapefruit hops with the Cascade hops are perfectly balanced to give that sweet and bitter bite. The malt back evens everything out, making this a very smooth beer. I thought this was an Imperial. As an IPA, this is one of the strongest.

Bottle shared with HogTownHarry courtesy of DarkElf. Pours a sparkling orange-gold with an average size lasting foamy white head. Big lovely aroma of juicy citrus hops along with fruit (pineapple sticks out), some pine and enough malt to balance things out. The flavour does not dissapoint: Lots of citrus hops and fruit very well balanced with sweet malt -- so delicious! This is 8% alcohol? Hard to believe. Medium bodied. This is so damn easy to drink and would make a wonderful session IPA. Fantastic!