Harpoon Leviathan Imperial IPA

Brewed by Harpoon Brewery
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Boston, Massachusetts USA

#4000 Bottle from ericandersnavy - thanks for helping me over a big number! Pours quite copper with a fluffy off-white head. Aroma seems to be a complex of floral/citrus/fruit/resin. Medium plus body with fairly strong carbonation. Flavor is quite bitter with a mildly roasted caramel backbone. Finish is rather floral. It’s extremely tasty.

12 oz bottle. Pours a hazy orange, typical for style, with a very thin ring of off-white bubbles around the edge. Aroma is of resin and sweetness, with prominent orange. Taste is similar with a significant hot alcohol note. It’d be better with a less sweet malt bill and more attenuation to help dry it out a tad. Not my favorite DIPA, but a pretty good attempt nevertheless.

My bottle is saying 9.3%....Anyway, pours a very clear orange-gold with a small white head fading to a ring quickly enough. Aroma is definitely heavy on the citrus and fruity qualities with tons of apricot, peach, orange, with a slight cotton candy sweet background. Interesting. Flavor is a bit less unique with a lot of malt flavors of brown sugar, caramel, white chocolate and toast, but they mingly with sugar coated grapefruit, orange and pineapple well enough. It’s balanced, but a bit sugary. Fairly heavy, moderate heat, but slick and sticky with a prickly carbonation and obvious "too filtered" texture make this beer suffer needlessly. It lacks a special softness that might have been there otherwise. It satisfies curiosity, but I don’t know how many times I’ll want this beer. Definitely influenced by 90 Minute.

Pours a light orange color. The head is about medium. Aroma is packed full of hops. Taste is fairly typical of a DIPA - hoppy with alcohol undertones. Alcohol is not overwhelming but the taste is there. Overall a pretty good DIPA but I hoped for better from Harpoon.

12oz Bottle. Flickr(http://www.flickr.com/photos/26049401@N0 Aroma is a really dank, candy-striped resin, kiwi and lime aroma. Just sticky, aromatic, and really fruity. It transcends to a new level of citrus that’s quite impressive. Very nice. Pours a nicely clear darkened gold, with a well-lacing frothy white head. Flavor holds up to the aroma, adding a wide swath of hops-based spiciness, rich chewy malt sugar, and a firm snap of alcohol. Juicy, citrusy, and beautifully hoppy. I just love the new complex level of hoppiness this beer reaches, while maintaining cleanliness in the malt and alcohol profile. Very well done.

Bottle at the Dayton Ale Fest. Aroma is strong with hops and sweetier malts. Notes of pine, citrus, grapefruit, mango, and grass stand out (I am guessing Simcoe hops). On the palate it is a little sticky and a nice alchol burn comes out. The flavor really brings out the sweet malts and brings a bit of caramel to the nose. The finish is nice and bitter, leaving a citrus/hop aftertaste. Overall, a great beer.

Pours a translucent light copper amber with two fingers of a creamy sandstone head. First wiff is very resinous and citrus hops, mango and pink grapefruit juice predominate. Notes of sweet caramel and mild peanut shell mingle in. Flavor is not as pronounced, medium dry bitterness with some citrus rind. Nice balancing sweetness with some spicy phenol and a mild alcohol presence. Very full in body and smooth on the way down with a dwindling citrus rind bitterness.

Bright orange to copper in color with a decent white colored head. Clear. The smell is hops, floral, citrus, grapefruits, and malts. The taste is crisp, citrus, hops, floral, and good.