Highland Imperial Kashmir India Pale Ale

Formerly brewed at Highland Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Asheville, North Carolina USA

Bottle 11$ Bruisin’ ales Ashville. Pours a foggy orange with a fine off white head. aroma is sweet and fruity with a load of hops. Flavor is sweet and rich with notes of caramel. Very hoppy and citrus. I saved mine for a while and I think it payed off. The body was full, i wasn’t expecting it. I had a glass of this and sampled it comparing to the regular Kashimir and they have simularities, bu this beer totally blows the other one out the the water.

Absolutly delicious! Taste like the regular Kashmir put way more intense, almost smells like a barley wine, and tastes amazing! Hazy orange color with nice hoppy tone in the flavor that lasts sweet on the palate! Wow...I want another!!!

Bottle (22oz). Pours a cloudy orange-amber with an average size somewhat-lasting tan head. Aroma has lots of hops along with caramel malt, fruit and some alcohol. Flavour’s quite hoppy but plenty malty too, sweeter then I expected (or like) along with some fruitiness and a nice, but short bitter finish. Alcohol’s noticeable but not bad for 10.2%. Medium bodied. A bit stronger and sweeter then I like my DIPAs but it’s still quite enjoyable.

Objectively speaking: Perfumey, thick and chewy double IPA that does not strike the drinkability chord.
I like: Nice aroma which capts the essence of the pungent dry-hopping aromatics AND the bready, crunchy crystal honeyed notions. Relatively complex. Acrobatic floweriness, burstingly fruity.
I dislike: Overly agressive in its malt deployment. This is very sweet up to the end, fatiguin the palate quickly. Quite alcoholic as well which further diminishes drinkability. Inefficient carbonation, never really cleansing, nor engaging, quite greasy/oily feel.

Cloudy amber pour with almost no head. Good aroma of floral, spicy hops and caramel. Good flavor of floral, spicy hops and caramel with bitterness in the end. The body is light with a creamy texture and soft carbonation. Not bad, but it fails to impress, there’s seems to be missing a little something.

In short: An overly sweet alcoholised IIPA. Not bad but rather brutal.
How: Bottle, 6 months old (released sept 2007), acquired through elmatador00, thanks a lot James. Drank at Back from Europe tasting session with Montreal crew
The look: Cloudy dark orange body with a very small off-white head
In long: Nose mixes floral notes with grapefruits and citrus fruits. Taste is too sweet and alcoholised for my taste, very sweet with apparent alcohol. Feeling of eating a juicy very sweet caramel cookie with a shot of hard liquor. Bitterness started to kick-in as the beer warmed-up but just not enough to balance it out. Intense it is, refined it is not. Kind of lacking in the hops department. Bottle proudly states “200 pounds of hops in 50 barrels”… must have been very very big barrels.

Bouteille de 22 oz partagée lors d’une dégustation Ratebeer Montréal chez Glouglouburp. Arôme: Odeur de pamplemousse et d’ananas. Apparence: La couleur est orange voilée. Présence d’une fine dentelle sur le verre. Saveur: Goût d’agrumes avec une pointe de caramel. Durée moyenne de l’arrière goût. Palette: Le corps est moyen avec une texture huileuse. Moyenne effervescence en bouche. Amertume en arrière goût. (Rating 1604)

My Bottom Line:
The boastful perfume of sweet flowers burgeons within the biscuity cereal sweetness of this balanced and powerful Double IPA.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A veil of foam tops the cardinal-hued amber.
-The hoppiness is quite complex, twisting into spicy and leafy profiles before settling back into its floral perfume.
-Malts build a chewy body which aptly sustains the intense flavor display.
-The finish could be drier to increase drinkability.
-Caramel leeks from the residual sugars.

Bottle.