Carolina 11th Anniversary Imperial IPA

Brewed by Carolina Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Holly Springs, North Carolina USA

From notes 7/16/06: Bottled on June 28, 2006. Pours a slightly hazy golden copper with plenty of orange hues. Frothy head of off-white forms easily and leaves plenty of chunky lace. Holy crap is this aroma juicy! Dripping fragrance of mango, grapefruit flesh, orange, and lemon. Absolutely outstanding. I find myself just sniffing and inhaling this beer to no end. Nice job! Sweet caramel maltiness is drenched with citrusy hop flavors. So very nice. Sticky icky coats the tastebuds. Resinous and tacky. Oily and green. This beer pushes all the right buttons. Smooth mouthfeel. Full body. So very very drinkable. A (pun intended) "Herculean" effort here. Damn this needs to be a year-rounder!

Crisp, tart grapefruit hop bite. Slightly sweet, ABV is slightly noticed, especially as it warmed. Great 2IPA, I enjoyed this one.

Bottle. Hazy orange with a nice, foamy white head. There are some visible sandy particles floating in the beer, not shocking for a small batch like this. Tons of pine on the nose. Not much sweetness as it hits the tongue, but a ton of delicious piney hops. Not the most flavorful DIPA, but the alcohol is nonapparent and the flavor that is there is great. This one finishes as clean as I could ever ask. For a limited release by a small brewery, I’m very surprised how good this is.

Pours an amber color with a thick and fluffy mostly white head. Great lacing. Aroma is deliciously hoppy and fresh with lots of pine and grapefruit. Great hoppy flavor. Face smacking citrus bitterness with some pine resin in the background and a little bit of sweet malt to hold it together. The 8.2% ABV works well here since the hops pretty much cover up any traces of alcohol. This is a VERY fresh sample and I couldn’t be happier about it. If only I could somehow convince CBC to brew this all the time. Think of this as a slightly lighter Hercules. Most of the flavor but it sits a little lighter on the stomach and your head.

Picked this up at the brewery. Pours an amber with medium head. Lots of particles that float around in the beer. Sharp floral smell that is pleasant. Tastes exactly the same. Along with citrus and pine. Bittering effect once swallowed. This beer should be offered in store. Freaking good, being a local, for a tiny warehouse. EDIT 12/03/07 - the beer also has a sweet taste to it as well. Jumped from their IPA to this and noticed a huge difference. It is smoother as well.

Thanks to Tom for sharing at a tasting. Pours a lightly hazy orange amber with a medium bubbly off white lacing head. Aroma of pine, grapefruit, nice malty sweet nose, caramel and orange. Flavor of pine, grapefruit, toasted malt, moderate hop bitterness, dry and well done.

(12oz bottle, bottled 6/28/06, thanks wilkie) Medium beige head atop cloudy copper body. Aroma is moderately sweet, pine, grapefruit, caramel, cookie, light lemon peel. Taste is moderately sweet, grapefruit, caramel, pine, some cantaloupe, floral, cookie, alcohol. Resiny, medium-full body, light acidity. Not as fresh as I’d like from an IIPA, but there’s still plenty of hoppiness, and I seem to have gotten a fuller maltiness than people who had it earlier.

Bottle. Nice amber color, slightly hazy. Aroma is very hoppy and tthere are alcohol overtones. Medium white head, some lacing. Flavor is similar, good hop/malt balance, alcohol aftertaste. A bit on the sweet/malty side--not that I mind that at all.