Blue Point No Apologies Imperial IPA

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

I had this beer on tap, at Isacc Newtons in Newtown. The appearance is "fuckin good amber" as I said. I had a stuffed nose, and I could STILL smell the hoppines. Citrusy, very well hopped aroma. So I knew this was going to be good. I took a sip and I felt like I was blown away. It hits you from begining to end. The moment it hits your palate it lingers long after you swallow it.

Copper with big, foamy off-white head / Sweet, malty pine nose / Medium to full bodied with pronounced malts and hops, and good finish / Big flavors of pine, caramel, orange, and cinnamon / Outstanding, in a fuller bodied style.

Draught sample. Pours amber with a white head. Smells of pronounced. layered citrus. Tastes bitter and citrussy with a floral finish.

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.

Cask at Waterfront, served in a shaker/pint (sweet!) Hazy copper orange color pumped with a frothy off-white head. Perfect cool temperature. Aromatic floral hop aromas with peach, passionfruit and citrus. Sweet and rich malt flavor--toffee/caramel--sweet oranges, with a load of spicy citrusy hops. Zesty and piquant citrus hop finsh. Full and smooth mouthfeel. This is one of the nicer cask pints of 2IPA I’ve had.

I had several samples of this at the Blue Point cask fest, served from the "world’s largest cask," which, as durandal points out, was simply a fermenter with a hand pump attached - quite hazy golden out of the pump, with an impressive, and quite foamy head for a cask beer - people talk a lot about hoppy beers having a grapefruit aroma, but this beer had the biggest, brightest grapefruit aroma I’ve ever smelled, along with some other fruits, such as peach and orange - the background of the aroma is mostly sticky sweet-smelling malts,some bready/yeasty character, and suprisingly subdued alcohol - quite full-bodied and "chewy," as they say - the beer is a bit cloying at first, with a lot of syrupy, carmel flavor, but a gradual swell of woody/pine-like, dry, earthy hop character balances it out just in time - the alcohol is a bit apparent, but as this is a young beer, I’m sure that will mellow out in no time - my only concern is that, once they keg it (and possibly bottle it) they will filter all of the goodness out of it - but, on cask, this is one formidable IIPA, and one that stands up to the best of them.

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

Growler courtesy of Sachin @ 5 Points Bottle. Very nice IIPA. Drinkable, yet alcohol presence hits you after a few sips. Caramel and dough in the afterteaste, w/ a huge hop presence.