Golden Valley IPA VS Brut

Brewed by Golden Valley Brewery
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
McMinnville, Oregon USA

Attractive amber-gold color with a medium head. Aroma has a nice woody-wine barrel element with some slight citrus hops, sweet & bready malts, and some raw winyness. Taste doesn’t quite match the unique and appealing aroma, but a subtle citrus hop and malty sweetness match the vinous barrel flavor rather nicely - more like a medium strength Belgian ale but still pretty tasty and drinkable. Lighter mouthfeel with no hint of being at a higher ABV level. Overall pretty good and unique, but not worth the $25 dollar price tag. Nice to try once.

750ml bottle. Poured a medium amber color with an averaged sized off white head. There were a ton of floaters in the bottle and pour. Aromas of earthiness, floral, wood, and had a light vinous character. Tastes of vanilla, citrus, caramel, citrus, and lighter earthiness. This was a decent beer but in my opinion, a little over priced at $25 a bottle.

Thanks to hopdog for sharing this 750 mL... Appears a semi-transparent amber with yeasty and small grainy particles near the bottom of the glass. Steady streams of CO2 rising to the top. An off white head of fluff slowly fades out and has decent retention. Smell is of mildly oxidized cherries, caramel, brown sugar, earthy hops, and pine. Taste is of the mentioned aromas with some gummy raisins coming through in the flavor. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, sugary, well balanced. Very drinkable beer that grows on you.

Poured a lightly hazy amber color with a small, off white head that left light lacing on the glass. Aroma of light floral hops, pine, caramel malts, and light spices. Taste of citrus fruits, pine, light tobacco, some oxidation, mild bitterness, and a sweeter finish.

Thanks to hopdog. Pours a golden amber with a smaller bubbly off white head with tons of floaties. Aroma of caramel, lightly toasted malt, green apple, grapes, sweet malts, some cardboard and white grapes. Flavor of some green hops, sweet malts, light hop bitterness, cardboard, caramel and some bubbly carbonation. A little oxidized...but it works.

Courtesy of wohlfs. Brilliant copper, huge rocky head. Aroma has some faint hop esters, citrus and floral. Flavor again light citrus/floral character. Faint pine resin near the finish. Unless the chanpagne added the floral, don’t get much champagne characteristics at all.

Poured from a 750ml bottle--Deep copper-golden body with a fluffy, dissipating white head. Toasty floral nose, mildly biscuity. This beer didn’t seem to vary much from the regular IPA. Very pricy and not spectacular but decent.

Other reviewers noted this beer as being skunky due to the clear bottle. Mine was not at all and was actually one of the freshest tasting beers I’ve ever had. I guess it all depends on the care taken by the bottleshop to store it properly. Also I purchased my bottle local to the source, in Oregon so it didn’t have to travel very far. Pours hazy amber with thin head. I was expecting more carbonation since it came out of a champagne bottle. Aroma is interesting, it is very dry and a bit yeasty. I can probably attribute this to the fact that I got the bottom half of the bottle, with the yeast dredges. Also some green aromas of pine, very fresh. Flavor is excellent, much better than the aroma. Some pine and pineapple citrus, very fresh- backed by biscuit flavors. Very complex flavor and not as one sided as IIPAs usualy are. Finishes slightly sweet with potent bitterness. Very nice.