Green Flash Imperial IPA

Brewed by Green Flash Brewing Co.
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Vista, California USA

Bomber courtesy of Joey at South Bay! Definitely the best beer I’ve had from Green Flash. A big, bad-ass SoCal DIPA, this one is very piney and peppery, almost too much so at the expense of more floral or softer characteristics. But if it’s a bit more one-dimensional than I’d ultimately like, it’s damn sure another winner from the home of American IPAs!

22oz. Seems like more than 101 IBUs, hops are definitely the main feature here. Moderate to strong Carbonation, the Alcohol is highly evident. Not quite as refined or complex as I like my Imperial IPAs, could possibly do better with a little bit less alcohol.

Bottle, thanks Wetherel! Given Green Flash’s West Coast IPA, I was expecting an aggressive blast of hops all over the place. This really wasn’t that. The nose was hoppy, sure, but nothing ridiculous. I got strong orange and pot in the nose with some sweet floral scents. I gotta say, this one is pretty unique for the style. The bitterness hits me in the back regions of my palate, hard. Nothing really strikes me up front. More residual dryness is noted on this one. It feels like garlic on my tongue, but has a lot of citrus flavor. The bright citrus/pine blast I’m accustomed to from this style is morphed a bit here. I found this to be a unique delivery of bitterness with more emphasis on grass, vegetation, and a very, very dry pine needle finish. This one wasn’t that resinous, all things considered. Now, I’m not sure how long this bottle has sat around, perhaps it did lose a bit of its edge. But as it stands, there are very strong flavors of fresh hops that make me believe it can’t be too old. I liked the unique flavor on this one, but thought it could stand a bit more oomph.

Bomber, thanks to NachlamSie, shared with Tronraner and NachlamSie. Pours a slightly hazy gold with a lasting white head. The aroma is of pine, citrusy fruits such as grapefruit, orange, and lemon, and hops. At a claimed 101 IBU, I’m surprised at how bearable its bitterness is. It actually isn’t really as bitter as I thought it’d be. The flavour is very clean with pine, citrus, and hops and the finish is very dry. The finish isn’t too intense in bitterness either. Reading the previous rates, I’m beginning to believe that this bottle may have been aged for some time to lose its hopsy bitterness. Either way, it’s very tasteful.

Bomber shared by NachlamSie. Pours a cloudy gold with whitish head. The aroma has lots of orange, vague pineapple, some cookies, and even some onion-like acidity. The flavor is an acidic orange with some lemon and honey. Bitterness is strong, but not mindblowing. The malts are clean and sweet throughout, and the hops citrusy. The finish is slightly tart. Pretty good.

2007 22 oz. bottle. Pours slightly cloudy but translucent orange-amber. Aroma is full-on citrus hops; grapefruit with some alcohol. Flavor is intensely bitter with citrus and overly skunky cat piss hops dominating as well as some out-of-place cloyingly sweet flavor in the back. Finished dry. Palate was medium to medium-full and carbonation was moderate. Generally smooth but had some alcohol burn. Overall, I thought this was a pretty messy DIPA. Kind of like a mutated GF West Coast IPA which I thought was solid. This version is bigger but also quite unbalanced.

Bomber courtesy of Adrian910ss (thanks!). Pours a clear golden yellow with a sizable off-white head and good lacing. Aroma of grapefruit, floral, citrus, and some light pine. Flavor is bitter hops, with some residual grapefruit rind. Palate is medium, carbonation is medium-high, with a lingering bitterness and minimal maltiness to tame things down. Overall, not a bad IIPA, and a solid offering from GF.

Bottle courtesy of KingG. Huge hop aroma. Smack in your face hops. Tons of grapefruit. A great follow up to there West Coast IPA.