Glacier Double IPA

Brewed by Glacier BrewHouse
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Anchorage, Alaska USA

On tap @ the brewhouse. This seems more like a normal IPA. Copper color with red hues, thin white head. Light aroma of pine and malt. Taste is lightly bitter with a solid sweet malt backbone. This is a Malty DIPA. Resiny mouthfeel, that is nice. Overall not too bad, easy to drink, a little too sweet for style.

On tap @ the Brewhouse. Aroma of piney resinous hop with notes of flowers and citrus. Deep amber with a thick fully off white head. The taste was sweet malt blended with bitterness from the hops. Slightly syrupy, medium bodied, and average carbonation. This beer isn’t offensive just a bit too sweet.

Draft@ the Brew Pub. Clear copper color with a white head. Nice floral citrusy grassy hop aroma. Light/medium body. Huge piney and bitter grapefruit hop flavors riding a relatively thin, mildly sweet caramel base. Straight up hop fest here, not much malt essence to balance. A pretty harsh hop presence, even for my blasted palate.

On tap @ Bistro 8th Annual DIPA Fest poured a clear amber with a small lasting ivory head. Aromas of carmel, eathiness, pine and grapefruit rind. Palate was light bodied and crisp. Flavors of carmel, pine, light earthiness and a hint of citrus with a smooth lingering bitter finish.

Tap @ Bistro’s 8th Annual IIPA Fest. Poured a slightly hazy amber color with an off-white head. The aroma was fairly hop forward with piney and sweaty notes. Also seemed to be worty. Hop flavor came first with pine and floral notes. Caramel malt mixes in giving a nice balance. The taste isn’t bad. Medium bodied with some warmth.

Draft pint at the brewpub. Two full shades darker than their IPA, this is muddy orange with a thin but boiling yeasty top. It’s hard to pull the aroma from this but it’s a bit like steeped tea, rich and earthy. To the drink, this is robustly hoppy of course, but not over-poweringly so. The astringency of the oily hop dominates, with just a light tart malt below. (#3296, 1/17/2008)

19-Jan-08 (Draft: Glacier Brewhouse in Anchorage, AK) Sweet, honey-like graininess and sweet citrus hop aroma in the nose, with some grapefruit in the background. Mirroring the nose, the flavor has a sweet, caramely, fairly concentrated grainy malt base, and is balanced by hops with medium bitterness and orange, grapefruit and pine flavors. For an Imperial IPA, it’s just not that hoppy or bitter. On the palate, the beer is full-bodied and fairly crisp, but still a bit heavy in the finish. It’s too sweet, lacking the necessary dryness to be clean and truly drinkable. Carbonation is light and soft, and the beer lacks a sharp hop bite, so it has a pretty easy and smooth mouthfeel. It’s amber in color, showing a slight haze. The creamy off-white head pours to half an inch, but then holds a thin, complete layer, with some patchy lace on the glass. Overall, this isn’t a bold Imperial IPA, but more of a "starter" example of the style. And like most beers at the Glacier Brewhouse, it’s too sweet, so it’s hard to drink a full pint, let alone a second one.

Draft at The Bistro’s DIPA Fest; Nose shows dark fruit and some minor citrus hop notes; Rusty brown with a small off white head; flavor was of fruitiness, caramel, and some hop bitterness lasting to a decent hop finish. Not really impressive after all the others I’ve tried today!