Arcadia Hop Rocket 11th Anniversary Ale

Brewed by Arcadia Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Battle Creek, Michigan USA

On draft at Grey Lodge Pub. Poured orange with white head. Sweet citrus flavor with a crisp, bitter finish.

On tap at the MBG Summer Festival. Poured amber with a light brown head. Strong hop smell like a wet forest or marijuana. Flavor is overly hopped and leads to a wet wood taste. Something was a bit off here.

On tap at Guthrie’s in Chicago. Pours a golden orange color with a slightly creamy white head. Aroma is a newly opened dime bag, just straight up weed, I passed it around the table so all of the non craft beer drinkers could take a whiff of weed in a glass. It has some underlying caramel malts but mostly just fresh hop oils. Flavor starts with a piney hop kick that gives way to a slightly citric fruity character. Continues to ride that piney character again finally adding some sweet malts before a finish of dry bitterness. Medium body and an active carbonation. Interesting beer, not well balanced at all though. I love hops so it was enjoyable enough but for anyone who doesn’t like a big mouth and nose of weed and pine, its not gonna be a fun experience.

On tap at Six N Save, New Kensington. Old chicken grease and herb aroma to this - not quite cheesy but close. Big hop nose, spicy, with light pot notes. Some sweetness. An odd nose. Hazy medium amber with thin white lacing head. Medium bodied with medium carbonation. Starts sweet with medium malt sweetness and a bit of caramel. Hops are milder than expected but pretty tasty. Fruity with citrus and brown sugar. Quite a bit of cheesy meaty flavor for some reason. Decent IPA with fruity finish and mild bitter after.

Arcadia hop rocket Murky orange with a medium tan head that slowly dissipates leaving thin patches of lace. Excellent aroma of caramel, citrus, grapefruit, pine and a touch of alcohol. Taste came across as very hoppy unlike their Hop mouth with pine, grapefruit and citrus hops mixed in with caramel malt and a touch of apricot. The alcohol is hidden well in this one and it finishes up with both moderate bitterness and pithiness. Nice job on this one!

Pours a golden hue. Smells piney, faint citrus in there. Taste is biting up front and sticks to your palate on the way down. Finishes smooth, nicely balanced hops. Wonderful 11th anniversary ale.

Pours a nice amber orange with thick off-white head, strong lacing. Aroma strong of floral hops, strong malt, slight citrus, and a bit of caramel. Flavor matches well with the addition of spice and a bit of an earthy taste that I wasn’t expecting. Finishes a bit dry with a good bitterness left in the aftertaste. Altogether, not bad, but not my favorite.

Poured an effervescent dark amber with a fizzy/frothy off-white head. Decent aroma of some pine and citrus hops with a touch of earthy bitterness. Flavor is quite good with notes of sweet toffee and strong pine hops... earthy bitterness with little metallic flavor. I didn’t know this was a DIPA, although that would certainly explain the dark color and richer body, though the hop profile did not strike me as being that prominent. Still, a good drink.