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Goose Island Imperial IPA 4 587

Goose Island Imperial IPA

Percentile
99
overall

bottled
available

on tap
common

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RatingsAverageScoreSeasonalABVStyle PctlServe in
5874.01/5.04/5.0Winter9.2%97.3Snifter, 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?  
 jrob21 (1278), Atlanta, Georgia, USA
4.3 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
9/105/58/104/517/20
Jul 3, 2006  
Another great double IPA without the overpowering sweetness and sugars. Good orange color with big white head. I get an incredibly complex nose of citrus, caramel, pine, and slight roasted malt tinges. Again a citrus and melon taste gives way to a slight bitterness. No taste of alcohol and at 9+% that’s a feat. Can you tell I like this one. My only complaint is the quick finish. Thanks brewblackhole.


 MrRomero (1934), Nolanville, Texas, USA
3.9 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/104/58/103/516/20
Jun 30, 2006  
12 oz bottle: I’ve been hanging on to this for about 7 months and finally drank one tonight. Poured orange with a medium sized off white head. Huge grapefruit and pine hop aroma. Sweet. Flavor is a blast of hops- grapefruit and big pine. Moderately sweet but not overbearing. Light earthiness. Alcohol is not too overpowering but it does pack a punch. Lightly soapy in the finish which is of course quite bitter. Good but not the best.


 weeare138 (936), Collegeville, Pennsylvania, USA
4.2 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
9/104/59/104/516/20
Jun 24, 2006  
Thanks to dickinsonbeer for this... Appears a hazy golden orange with lively carbonation pumping up wickedly to the 1 finger, creamy, off white head. Solid rings of tubed lacing is stuck around the glass. Smell is orange citrus, pine, sweet biscuits, vanilla cream, and caramel. Taste is of the same aromas. Nice mix of sweets & bitters with a piney hop blast mixed with sugar. Mouthfeel is sugary, full bodied, creamy, and bitterly balanced. This is a nice drinking DIPA but the abv is noticable. Very tasty though.


 Suttree (2743), Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
4.1 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/104/58/104/517/20
Jun 22, 2006  
Very cloudy orange, with a good sized white head. Really appealing woodsy, spicy aroma, with just a toucj of toffee and molasses. Very flavorful - spicy and citrus - grapefruit, of course, but also lemon? mango? something like that. Big woody flavors, too, mostly pine. Subtle toffee-ish malt flavors thoughout. , maybe a touch of honey in the finish. Thanks to tronraner for this one!


 jpm30 (1588), East Central, Georgia, USA
4.2 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/104/58/105/517/20
Jun 17, 2006  
From a twist cap 12 oz. long neck brown bottle with a nice blurb on the front label and a bottled on date, 11/03/05, on the back label. Made a good appearance, poured a cloudy orange with a foamy white head that settled into a thin bubbly lacing, small amount of sticking, good even carbonation. Goose Island wasn’t lying, a big hoppy nose, grapefruit, the juice, zest and rind, spicy, dry earthy leafy and a light piney, the malts are completely in the background. A crisp, dry hop textured and creamy smooth medium bodied mouth feel, very good and dangerous DIPA drinkability. Big hoppy taste, the entire grapefruit once again, juice, rind and zest, spicy and piney, a beaten into submission caramel maltiness that rises up in the middle only to have it’s ass kicked again, the alcohol warmth is there, but is largely flavorless and a dry leafy hop finish with a soft dry bitterness lingering in the palate. The bitterness overall is softly numbing on the tongue, gently rolling in the palate, well balanced. An excellent DIPA from Goose Island, tasty, balanced and just too easily quaffable.


 bfeldmann (1042), Wilmington, Delaware, USA
3.7 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
9/103/57/104/514/20
Jun 17, 2006  
"Pour an amber color with okay head lacing was weak at best. Aroma was strong grapefruit. Flavor was the same with some other citrus and floral coming out. Had the pine hops later in the beer. Mouthfeel was moderate to a little dry. "


 ABUSEDGOAT (1934), California, USA
4 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/104/58/104/516/20
Jun 16, 2006  
Cloudy orange beer with a moderate sized head, good lacing. Aroma is all the usual goodness. Grapefruit, citrus, other fruits, pine, caramel, light alcohol. Bitter salty mouthfeel with minor alcohol burn. Good, but $5/bottle? I’ll take a Yulesmith now.


droopy49 (97), Lancaster, California, USA
3.8 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/104/58/104/515/20
Jun 15, 2006  
12 oz bottle courtesy of Wallybrau. This poured a dark amber color with a medium off-white head. Nice hoppy aroma with plenty of citrus. Flavor is pretty well balanced. The bitterness of the hops are complimented by a good malt backbone with some caramel notes. Great beer, but I would place this some where in the middle if I were to rank IIPA’s.



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