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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?  
TheSchmagler (6), St Louis, Missouri, USA
does not count click to see why this rating of Goose Island Imperial IPA does not count
2.3 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
5/102/54/102/510/20
Dec 18, 2006  
WOW! For the low low price of $20 you can get 4 very mediocre IPA’s. I truly think that their every day IPA has a better balanced flavor. Not bad, but not worth the price of admission!


 asteele8 (270), Mukilteo, Washington, USA
4.2 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
9/104/58/104/517/20
Dec 17, 2006  
Bottle. Pours a orange amber color with a slight hazy hue. On top is a nicely sized off-white head. Aroma is an even mixture of hops and malts. Pine and citrus hops come into the aroma with cake and caramel malts. The aroma is quite similiar to AleSmith YuleSmith Summer. A nice aroma! Flavor is full of sweet tropical fruit hops with grapefruit, pineapple and oranges coming in. Cookie malts come in afterwards to help balance out the bitterness of the hops leaving a great balanced beer. An excellent imperial IPA. I wish this was easily accessible in the west coast!


 LeopoldStoch (201), Green, Ohio, USA
4.2 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
9/104/59/103/517/20
Dec 11, 2006  
A really good imperial ipa. Nice golden color with decent carbonation. Really good aroma that is up there with hop whore and dreadnaught. The flavors are a nice grapefruit, pine, citrus flavors. The simcoe and cascade hops really shine on this beer from the aroma to flavor. Really good stuff and highly recommended.


 Kinz (2215), Glen Allen, Virginia, USA
4.4 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/105/58/105/518/20
Dec 8, 2006  
Medium orange amber, light haze, nice head. Aroma is all hop, loads of pineapple and pine resin. Rich in the mouth, notes of orange marmalade, pine, and more pineapple. An exceptionally well done IIPA. Thanks!


 chimpscampee (566), Madison, Wisconsin, USA
3.8 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/103/57/103/517/20
Dec 8, 2006  
Nice smell. Nice overall. Tremendour hops with citrus (mostly orange), pine, apricot, and very faint carmel. The mouthfeel and finish just doesn’t meaure up to top IPA’s. Medium body, below average carbonation, and most problematic is it is too sweet- a problem for many IIPA’s. Why buy this at 4 a bottle when I like GD hercules or SN Celebration so much more at $1 a bottle.


 tomhenderson (128), Carolinas area, USA
3.2 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
6/105/55/104/512/20
Dec 5, 2006  
12 oz bottle dated 2006 and best before "March 31, 2007." Poured crystal clear orange with huge tan head that never settled, lacing the glass throughout comsumption. Smelled the hop aroma several feet away, so I thought I was in for a treat (just like the label said!). The initial, middle, and final taste reminded me of a barleywine rather than IIPA. For this reason, I wasn’t impressed as I expected an Imperial IPA. Sorry guys, it’s definitely more Barleywine than IIPA.


 badgerben (3605), Blaine, Minnesota, USA
4.2 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/104/58/105/517/20
Dec 3, 2006  
Dark orange color with a thin head. Smells like a bitter orange. Quite lovely. Wonderful orange and pine taste, but more than enough sweet malt base to prevent it from turning into pure hop juice. The alcohol doesn’t even seem like it’s there. It’s a beautiful showcase of hops.


 Juancho (225), Clearwater Beach, Georgia, USA
4.6 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
9/105/59/105/518/20
Dec 2, 2006  
Stunning! What more could you ask for? (a double Simcoe maybe?) Wonderful head, great color, amber/orange and an aroma that grabs you. Dominated by hops, citrus like waves followed by grassy piney notes. Just a beautiful IIPA without going extreme.



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