Highland Imperial Kashmir India Pale Ale

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

Pours a transparent copper orange with a wispy-lacing off-white head. Aroma of sweet sugary caramel candy with some cantaloupe, kinda strange for a double IPA. Starts fairly rich and full with molten caramelized sugar sweetness and mild grapefruity hop flavor toward a slightly warming bittersweet finish. Needs a more crisp hop profile and a less sugary, but more complex malt palate.

Poured a lighter amberish, caramel color, with a small yellowish white head. lack sufficient structure to being anything more than just a one time bottle. Not nearly enough maltiness to back up the amount of hops in this beer. Herbal earthiness dominates the nose, almost pungent, and a lot of heat from the alcohol in the finish. Unbalanced in my opinion.

22oz Bomber I was lucky enough to get this bottle in a trade from RustyDiamond, thanks Rusty. Imperial Kashmir enters the glass a hazy apricot with a few streams of large carbonation rising to the surface. A good looking finger and a half head of pure whiteness that eventually falls to a skimming and leaves some streaks of lacing on its way down. The aroma on this beer is utterly unique. Things are a little faint at first but if you stick with it crazy notes of ground spruce needles and mandarin oranges jump out at you. There’s something else in there, and although I can’t put my finger on it, it fits flawlessly. A touch of alcohol spiciness finishes things off. This beer is delicious! The flavor shows more pine needles than the aroma would suggest. Big and pungent (in a good way). The crazy citrus involved wafts through the pine until the finish. There’s some rich caramel maltiness that shows up and fortifies the hoppiness on the backend. The swallow leaves a nice tounge tingling bitterness. You couldn’t ask for a much better mouthfeel on a IIPA. Velvety and smooth. I run into far too many that are sweet and sticky. This walks the line perfectly. For such a high abv this beer drink far too easily. I’m crazy about the unique hoppiness (tangarine and mandarin oranges) and the pine bitterness. Truth be told I thought this would be a good IIPA but it turns out it’s an outstanding IIPA. I’m going to have to try and get my hands on a few more of these. The unique flavors work wonders in the mouth. 1/19/08

Bomber thanks to Jmichael, I believe! Poured clear, fiery medium orange with a short-medium cap of beige head. The aroma was entirely juicy, with grapefruit and pear leading the way.. strong, alcohol-fueled toffee and caramel undertones.. enjoyable spicy accents.. quite nice! The flavor had grainy, boozy toffee and lighter fruits at the core, with biscuit sweetness around the edges.. floral and juicy citrus bitterness provide solid accents.. strong and warm at the end... tasty, but a bit rough at times. Creamy, almost buttery feel across the middle of the palate with a stronger, boozy and grainy feel on the finish.. decent flow, and very warming in the belly.

Bomber from elmatador00 - thanks!! Amber color with a medium white head. Aroma is sweet and citrusy/piney with lots of malty/bready sugar. Taste has a good amount of citrus and floral hops and lots of big bready-sweet malts. Nice mouthfeel overall. Good brew, but way too malty to be among the best in the style. I enjoyed it (and not to piss on anyone who likes the maltier DIPAs) but I would rather have a good barleywine if I want this much malt with my hops. Still very good for what it is.

Vintage 2007. 22oz bottle. Aroma of an aged IIPA. Amazing due to this being a New beer. Deep copper color. Flavor of a musty, aged, IIPA. Big malt character. Lots of malt. Lots of malt character! Munich malts?? I love this beer! Sweet and super citrus hop. Tastes like its a 4 years old Dreadnaught. LOVE IT!

for a guy that lives in phoenix i sure have sampled a lot from this brewery in NC thanks to ucusty!... hazy caramel color with a fluffy light khaki head. aroma is overwhelmingly malty... caramel, toffee and brown sugar with a spritz of citrus and floral hops, spice and straw. earthy malt flavor is packed with more caramel and brown sugar, wood, orange and floral hops. pine shows up on the dry finish and leads to a lightly bitter aftertaste. the palate is on the sweet side but the finish helps clean it up a bit. the full body and mouth feel are chopped up by the dry hoppiness leaving this brew without the stickiness many dipa tend to have. still, it’s more like a decently hopped BW...

22oz bottle, no date from Colin (General_Gao), thanks! Hazy orange with a brownish tinge and a small, creamy light beige head. Aroma is resiny pine sap and some grapefruit/citrusy hops and spicy alcohol up front, with lots of sugary sweet toffee in the background--I don’t think this is the freshest specimen (my fault for taking so long to drink), but am having no complaints thus far. The hops are a little more grassy in the flavor and less citrusy, and the hops luckily keep the malts from being cloyingly sweet, which somehow I was almost afraid of. BItterness peaks at a 6-7 and lingers in the dry finish. Alcohol was present and raw towards the end of the swallow, especially after it warmed. Very low carbonation helps this beer sit unflatteringly heavy and syrupy in the mouth. Not too bad of a beer, but it just wasn’t great.