Arcadia Batch 999 Imperial IPA

Formerly brewed at Arcadia Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Battle Creek, Michigan USA

An unclear amber beer with a huge orange head. The aroma is very hoppy and grassy. The flavor is weak compared to the powerful aroma, but still has hops as most dominant note, combined with caramel, straw, and malt. The end is dry and quite bitter.

Name: Batch #999 Hop Fueled
Date: 04/25/2008
Mode: Bottle
Source: Trade

Appearance: muddy dark red, huge frothy dirty white head, bits of lace,
Aroma: sweet crystal malt aroma with nice floral and citrus hops and a touch of fruityness,
Flavor: sweet crystal and caramel malt flavor, lots of nice fruity plum character enhanced by the caramel sweetness, light bitterness for balance,

Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 7/10; Overall: 14/20
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Drinkability: 8/10
Score: **4

(12oz bottle) Off-white head, lightly hazed amber. Aroma is medium sweet, pine. Taste is medium sweet, pine, caramel, grapefruit, some orange. Nice bitter aftertaste that lingers. Creamy medium body, some resin.

Bottle acquired is trade with BBB63 (thanks!). Poured a dark and hazy amber color with a huge (5 finger) tan head. Aromas of juicy oranges, pine, pineapple and light pepper. Tastes of oranges, pine, caramel and pineapple. Medium bitter with a sweet balance to it. Enjoyable.

Extremely aromatic spruce resin, weeds and grapefruit nose. Hop fueled as the label indicates seems to fit for me. While this is usually not my style (not much soft and rounded biscuity/toasty maltiness), it looks awesome and doesn’t feel as one-dimensional as most contenders, probably thanks to an efficient bottle-conditioning. It is murky, copper, covered by a fully laced off-white head, initially gigantic in size and still more than fair after several sips. Starts moderately sweet, in a caramel syrup kinda way, but evolves quickly toward the massive hoppiness, no watery edges, firm bitterness, well rounded palate, captivating and without influencing acidity. Good stuff.

Bottle... Murky, deep golden ale with a large, frothy, white head. Terrific retention. The aroma is all about caramel, citrus fruit and evergreen. The flavor is well-balanced with notes of toffee, lemon and grapefruit rind. Light to medium-bodied and creamy with fizzy carbonation. Lengthy, bitter, bone-dry finish.

(Bottle) Pours a murky burnt orange body with a large beige head. Aroma of cherry, orange juice, banana bread, butterscotch, pine, and spices. Flavor of caramel malt, fruit, hops, and breadiness with a fizzy, bit over-carbonated mouthfeel.

Pours a lightly hazy mahogany copper with a thick, thin-lacing cream-colored head. Aroma is busting with fresh grapefruity hop resin and a touch of crystal malt. Body has a good dry caramel maltiness to it that balances the fresh bittering hops very well. I guess this falls into the English IPA category due to the malt billing despite the aggresive and appealing hoppiness. A very unique and flavorful beer nonetheless. Many thanks to wohlfs and Silphium for this brew!