Blue Point No Apologies Imperial IPA

Brewed by Blue Point Brewing
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Patchogue, New York USA

Cask at the Spuyten Duyvil. Dark amber color. Aroma of some sweet malt, caramel and oranges. The flavor is dominated by some earthy malt with a lot of harsh bitterness (like they dry-hopped the whole thing). Kind of watery mouthfeel.

Quickly fading head covers the opaque, cloudy amber pour. Rather floury and cerealic nose is a bit off-putting, mostly because of its huge yeasty nature that is just weirdly bready. Grainy palate, certainly full-bodied, but failing to focus on the proposed hoppiness. Considerale bubble size, airy mouthfeel. Moderate to high bitterness nevertheless, the hops’ bitterness is present indeed, but their aromas are veiled a bit by the heavy yeast presence. And the same goes for the finish that is all in unclean yeastiness. I don’t mind an unclean IPA if the yeast has some idiosyncratic character, but it is not the case here.

Sampled at SBWF, 2007. Hazy golden with a small white head. Sweet and hoppy; pine-needles. Notes from hay and nuts.

Draught at SBWF. POurs out in a clear amber colour with a ltall, sticky white foam. Resinous aroma of mandarine, pepper and grapefruit. Full bitter flavour of pine-needles, grass and grapefruit with sweet undertones of mandarine. Big bitter finish of grass and grapefruit.

(Draught at Stockholm Beer Festival, 29 Sep 2007) Amber colour with creamy beige head. Fruity nose with grapefruit, dried fruit, pine needles and resin. A bit sweet and sweaty. Full, fruity taste with loads of hops, grapefruit, pine needles and resin. Full body, thick and syrupy. A bit too sweet. Balanced is hardly the correct word. Saved by the massive and irresistible hop character.

(Stockholm Beer Festival 2007) Bottle. Hazy golden color, offwhite head. Hoppy, grassy, dry bitter aroma with malty and even nutty notes. Hoppy, grassy flavornutty, fruity and with pine needles. Hoppy grassy finish. Extremely well balanced.

This stuff is insane on how good it is! Had it at Frisco Grille, and it was very citrus flavored. The hops hit you, but the stuff poured down the hatch like nectar. At 10%, it’s insane how easy this stuff is to want more and more of. Quite possibly the perfect IPA.

Draft at Frisco Grille in Columbia, MD. Pours amber with a rich toffee nad citrus aroma. Texture has a very slight syrupy texture. Initial flavor of toffee maltiness that transitions to a juicy hop middle, accented by smoke. Finish had a tame citrus bitterness with some very slight hints of peat and sherry. Why is no one picking up liquid smoke? Perhaps the line was not cleaned prior to bringing this keg on line? Oh well. Still enjoyable either way.