Arcadia Hopmouth Double IPA

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

Bottle from Pailhead. Drank this one quickly as past experience with Arcadia has been sketchy. Deep amber colored with a light tannish head that leaves nice lacing. Slightly opaque. Aroma is a bit tinny, sort of smells like extract homebrew. Not that that is bad, just what it reminds me of. Really lacking in hop aroma department which is disappointing. Modest caramel and slight nuttiness in nose. Medium bodied with decent enough carbonation. Flavor is run of the mill, yes it is balanced but nothing to drive me off the wall. A bit of a sourish tang that makes me think that this might be in the early stages of infection. Decent.

Bottle. Pours amber orange with a slight haze and a thick creamy off white head. Aroma of grapefruity hops, pine, and caramel syrup. Mouthfeel is slightly thin for a IIPA, but not bothersome. Now to the flavor, bitter hop and hairspray overpower the malt flavors. The hairspray flavors carry through to the finish, with some grapefruit and lemon struggling in the background. Could this be an old bottle? This is rather disappointing.

Pours hazy amber into a snifter. Off-white pancake head leaves sheet lacing as it slowly recedes. Mild citrus and resin aromas. Crisp, well-balanced caramel and pine. Sharp finish. More like an American strong. I like the lack of sugar.

Pours a dark amber with medium, off-whte head that fades to a lasting cover, some lacing. Big hop aroma, citrus and pine, lots of caramel and fruits underneath. The flavor is moderately sweet, caramel, apricots and lots of pine. Smooth and soft mouthfeel, finish is medium length, slightly bitter.

Deep gold, light tan head. Nose is sticky resin, pine, butterscotch, quite sweet and rich. Flavor is malt, resin, sweet malty goodness. Unique but not really my thing.

22 ounce bottle. Dark amber with a big sticky white head. Sort of a funky soapy aroma. Some citrus is begining to break through as it warms. Same sort of Proctor and Gamble taste. Long bitterness with lots of bubbles. Not a real big fan of this.

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.

22oz bomber. Filtered with a ruby amber hue. Finger width of bone white head. Big sugary citrus sweet nose. Rather full bodied with big flavors. Great layered complexity mixed with a gererous blsst of alcohol. Good maltiness, but it takes total backseat to the hops. Cookie and cinnamon undertones, then a bitter citrus peppery blast. Notes of grapefruit and oranges. The second glass has slightly more of a haze. Must have activated whatever was left at the bottom of the bottle. Huge head. Touch more citrus in the nose, both resulting in temperature and heady sediment. More of a musty yeastiness as well. Good sugars. The bitterness lingers but finally subsides. It trails off into a grainy bubblegummy flavor. Not over the top, but good drinking and well crafted.