Arcadia Hopmouth Double IPA

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

Poured a copper/red color. Taste is typical pine notes, hints grapefruit, that ends with a hop bite. There are malty notes throughout, just enought to balance everything. This beer is pretty good, but fairly uninspiring when compared to the rest of the DIPA market. Good beer, but definitely not the best.

22oz bottle from Once Upon a Vine, Richmond. Either this is a pretty strange DIPA or a sorta old vintage; maybe a little from column A and a little from column B. At any rate, it pours with the kind of attractive features (deep amber, big foamsicle) one expects from the style, and smells nice and piney. It tastes pretty fine too, with a mellow grapefruit quality in there to give it a kind of pert drinkability. But I’ll be damned if, as it warms, I don’t get some bretty funk in there as well. And I’m not sure it works. Aside from this kind of modest imbalance/oddity, it’s enjoyable.

(22 oz. bottle via trade with <A HREF=http://www.ratebeer.com/ViewUser.asp?UserID=3 target=blank>shigadeyo, thanks Craig!) Piney and hot...Pours cloudy amber with three fingers of biege head. Head is quite slow to recede, finally forming into about 1/2’ of a lumpy cap. Aroma of pine and grapefruit with some sugar rock candy underneath. Mouthfeel faitly soft and smooth, a little sticky. Heavy sheets of lacing. Flavor is quite hot from fore through finish. Lots of pine, some grapefruit, very little malt able to fight through. Medium-heavy bitter bite in finish. A little harsh.

Muddy brown with fair, creamy beige head / Dry pine and citrus nose / Medium body, some sweetness, malty, but with good hop balance, and good finish / Flavors of dry pine, grapefruit, malt, cocoa, and caramel / If my notes are to be believed, this beer has improved radically since last year.

Poured a dark golden color with a large off white head that left nice lacing on the glass. Aroma of pine, floral hops, grass clippings, and some caramel malts. Taste of caramel malts up front, pine, citrus fruits, tobacco, and a touch of alcohol to round it all out.

Draft, sample @ David Copperfield’s in NYC. Courtesy of super cool beer manager/bartender Joey. Pours gold with a big off whitehead. Light hoppy nose. Tastes more like an IPA not an impy. Ok but its a sheep in wolf’s clothing.

Been a while since I had a double. This one pours a dark copper color with a thick, creamy and lasting white head. Pine needles and peppermint aroma. Medium bodied, carbonation is good. Big on hops but one-dimensional. Piney, resinous hops throughout. Malt profile is a bit rough, some caramel. Seems stronger than 8%. A midwest version of a northwest standard. Respectable.

Aroma of fruit salad, melons, peaches. Thin body with powerful piney hops bitterness and a resiny finish. Could use a bit more malt, tastes too thin.