Kuhnhenn American Extreme IPA

Brewed by Kuhnhenn Brewing
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Warren, Michigan USA

Bottle....thanks to trade. December 2008 bottling. Orange/Reddish hazy cloudy beer. Hoppy and chew beer, lots and lots and lots of hops. Good citrus notes meld with the sweetness to leave a flavor that while not balanced doesn’t completely tip off the end of enamel scaring hops. Lots of heat in this beer. I honestly would let it sit down for a while to calm both the hops and the ABV that really jumps out of the glass and makes me think it’s bigger than 7.1 percent.

Bottle (2008)… Clear amber ale with an orange tint and a mid-sized, frothy, off-white head. Fantastic retention. The earthy, musky aroma is very lupulin-forward. I have no idea what blend of bittering and aromatic hops are used here, but I’m pulling notes of pine, cat pee and damp fallen wood. Full-bodied with stinging carbonation. Pretty well-balanced, although it does lean lightly toward the bitter side. Caramel and toffee sweetness is offset by earthy bitterness. Restrained tartness. Lengthy, bittersweet, mildly acidic finish.

12-oz. Thanks, Riverside! Opaque, toffee-ish dark amber with a dense but ultra-thin tan head. Absolutely volcanic nose of mango, grapefruit, pineapple, tangerine, and blood orange. Totally shot through with fruit, and that’s what’s almost always such a pleasure about Kuhnhenn’s beers: he finds such huge power to put behind these enormous flavors, and gets them so far forward without the balance of the beer falling over on its face. This is no exception. Sticky, thick, malty body. Super grapefruity mid-palate. No bitterness at all. Absolutely lovely.

12 oz bottle; label says Extreme IPA, December 2008. Foggy orange brown with a cratered whitish head. Nose is sour apple, pine, white pepper and a touch of caramel. Dense and resiny like a hop milkshake. Taste is orange and grapefruit pith, juice and peel; its all there. Apple, alcohol and melon emerge after the hop blast. Finishes dry with bitter greens and romano. This stuff was intense. Probabaly too much alcohol presence but points for challenging my palate. Extreme without massive bitterness.

Big thanks to someone from my fantasy football league. Cloudy dark amber/light brown with big head. Sugary sweet malt and citrus aroma. Moderately sweet, but more than I prefer in a XIPA. Lots of bitter citrus and pine hops; grapefruit/tangerine dominates. Comes off as bigger than I would have guessed from the ABV.

Thanks sliffy for sharing. Bottle: Impressive, rich aroma of pine and citrus blend. Nice bready backbone. Expected more bitterness due to the olfactory foreshadowing, but was not disappointed.

Poured a murky amber with a nice sized off-white head. Big sweaty citrus pine hops dominate the aroma. The flavor is a mix of grapefruit and caramel. Hops run through the finish with a light bitterness. Very warming in the chest, especially for the ABV. Medium bodied. Tasty stuff.

Bottle shared by BrianK. Pours a hazy orange body with a white head. Huge hop resins, pine, citrus, earthy bitterness. Citrus and pine, and not well attenuated.