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Goose Island Imperial IPA 4 585

Goose Island Imperial IPA

Percentile
99
overall

bottled
available

on tap
common

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RatingsAverageScoreSeasonalABVStyle PctlServe in
5854.01/5.04/5.0Winter9.2%97.2Snifter, Tulip
Commercial Description:
Traditionally, there are a lot of rules when it comes to brewing great beer. The fact that American craft brewers have broken those rules to produce some of the world’s finest beers is downright heroic. At Goose Island we live and die by hops, so breaking the rules meant pushing the hop limit to the extreme to create this monster Imperial IPA. We took three of our favorite hops, TETTNANG, SIMCOE, and CASCADE, and balanced their spiciness with tons of malt. Them we went back and dumped in MORE HOPS and more malt until this beer was exploding with flavor...strong enough to wake the dead and filled with more bitterness than a woman scorned. This Imperial IPA is absolutely gigantic, you’ll smell the hops from about a yard away. What will surprise you is how incredibly drinkable it is. Pair it up with the saltiest blue cheese you can find, and go nuts.
 Most Recent Top Raters Highest Ratings Who's Rated This?  
llafoe (40), Greenwood, Indiana, USA
4.1 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/104/58/104/517/20
Mar 25, 2007  
12 oz bottle. Pours a cloudy orangish gold with a very slight white head. Aroma is hops, orange peel, grapefruit and pine. Taste is VERY bitter with a carbonated bitter pine grapefruit finish. Strong enough to wake the dead... I’d say so! Very nice.


 LilKem (1210), Marietta, Ohio, USA
4 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
9/104/58/103/516/20
Mar 24, 2007  
fantastic aroma, some floral notes, some pine and grapefruit with orange blossom and lemon, with a little carmel and some juniper berries. nicely rounded out by a huge malt backbone with some nuts. bitter aftertaste but not unbearable, more like the good bitter. bitter and sweet. they;’re right though, it’s very drinkable, and it will knock you on your ass.


 alexanderj (2279), Chino Hills, California, USA
3.7 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
9/104/57/103/514/20
Mar 19, 2007  
Bottle brought back from Chicago. This had some good flavor and was fairly enjoyable. However, the malt dominated just way too much. Hops very subdued. Good aroma though; some pine, citrus and caramel malt. Good balance; wish that balance would have been present in the beer. Still I liked it, but not an elite version of the style.


 igneous1 (1374), Davenport, Iowa, USA
3.6 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/103/57/104/514/20
Mar 17, 2007  
2006 bottles purchased by the bottle at the clybourn location. color is fairly clear, orange-ish/copper. aroma is loaded with pine and grapefruit and clearly this has a wee bit of age on it as the malts are quite caramelly. flavor is dominated by the caramel malts initially with the hop bitterness coming in the middle and lasting through the finish. very good but not an outstanding IIPA.


 Mrthirstyneck (341), Minnesota, USA
3.1 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
5/103/56/103/514/20
Mar 17, 2007  
not bad but yes like incutrav states the hops for a IIPA are WEAK too much malt id assume. and the fruity grapefruit tones were just WAY overbearing not real tasty!


 incutrav (576), Woodbury, Minnesota, USA
2.5 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
5/103/54/103/510/20
Mar 12, 2007  
Not sure why everyone likes this one so much. Im a big HOP fan, but this tasted like nothing but grapefruit to me. absolutley NO hop aftertaste at all, i compare every IPA/DIPA to Surlys Furious, and this wasnt anywhere near that, which few are, but this being a double i expected way more. Was very sweet and just not very good.


Willin8 (55), Massapequa, New York, USA
4 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/104/57/104/518/20
Mar 11, 2007  
Rich golden pour. Aroma is pine. Flavor is heavily hoppy, full and robust. It’s evident when you are drinking it that it contains very good ingredients. Well rounded example of an IPA.


 decaturstevo (2007), decatur, Tennessee, USA
4.2 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/104/58/105/517/20
Mar 9, 2007  
12oz btl. Pours a golden/amber with a slightly off white head. A piney aroma of hops. A flavor of grapefruit and a very pleasant warmth. An all over full bitter that finish this fine beer in fine fashion. An excellent palate with very good carbonation.



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