Goose Island Imperial IPA

Brewed by Goose Island Beer Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Chicago, Illinois USA

Pours hazy amber with a thin white head. Smells of pine resin, spice, sage, caramel. Tastes of caramel, sweet pine.

2006 Vintage

10/21/2008: Wow, even after two years Goose Island Imperial IPA still has a ton of hops in the nose. The aroma contains a substantial amount of orange and citrusy hops as well as a hint of vanilla and a creamy caramel and toffee maltiness. The color is golden honey and it has a hazy appearance and a thin, frothy off-white crown that leaves lots of lacing just by swirling the beer in the glass. Wow, it is scary how easy this medium to medium-full-bodied beer is to drink. It just glides down effortlessly and deposits a great flavor on the palate. This maltiness of this beer presents a nice level of sweetness in the front accompanied by a nice caramel/toffee flavor. Then it transitions to bold hop flavors including dried fruits (apricot) and citrus (orange and grapefruit) as well as a soft spicy and floral quality imparted by the Tettnang hops. The lingering dried apricot flavor is paired with a moderate bitterness. The balance of this beer is just great and it is definitely ’’’’incredibly drinkable!’’’’ Wow again. It is still wonderful even after 2 years...

12FL. OZ. [355ML] twist-off bottle (9% ALC./VOL. ’’’’Best when consumed by: March 31, 2007’’’’ sticker on the back over 123106 1050). Rating #528 for this beer...

pours a cloudy orange color, little frothy head, nose is big sweet floral hops amazing nose, citrus everything good. flavor is sweet malts alcohol and amazingly balanced hops, soo soo good one of the best DIPA.

Bottle. An awesome offering from GI. Sampled many times. Huge etoh and hops combine in a solid blend of hop bitterness with very enjoyable etoh. I preferred this one with age, as some of the hops die down but solid offering anyone can tell.

Getting Notebook Online. Bottle, 2007. Pours amber. An alright floral aroma. Good amount of hop taste. Balance is on the edge of being off. A bit of spice in there too. A decent brew, maybe better with age?!

Pours a clear amber in color with about an inch of head forming on the pour. Smell is just a slight bit hoppy. I think this bottle may have just a bit of time on it. Flavor is mostly malty without any big, juicy hops. Very smooth and drinkable. I’ll have to revisit.

2007 bottle. This pours a glowing orange color with a medium, foamy white head that slowly recedes to a thin film. Rings of lacing hang around the glass. The aroma shows some citrus and piney hops with a huge amount of sweet toffee and caramel malts that overpowers the hops. A hint of vanilla cream adds some smoothness as well. The flavor follows with the toffee and caramel malts shining through with some hops bitterness on the backend trying to balance things out. The vanilla cream and orange hops blend really well to make a great, sweet flavor. Medium-full bodied with a creamy mouthfeel with a long, bitter-sweet finish. The hops seemed to have been toned down a bit from the age, but this is still very good. i would love to try a fresh bottle of this stuff. Really nice stuff.

Pours hazy brownish orange with a smallish white head. Nose is cookie dough and powerful floral and citrus hops. Flavor of very strong floral hops, slightly less citrus hops, and tons of malt. Rather bitter. Very heavy, velvety mouthfeel. Lingering malty finish. Quite sweet. Very very good.