Legend Imperial IPA

Brewed by Legend Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Richmond, Virginia USA

Bottle courtesy of golubj: Amber pour with an off white small head. Sweet aroma with lots of candyish malts, plasticy phenolics and sticky resiny character. Sweet flavor as well, with some odd resins, giving off a cat-litter hint? There’s also some candied malts and a hint of vanilla. The finish has a sticky hop hint, but not really a bitterness. A bit too sweet in my humble opinion.

22oz bottle. Tawny and dark rusty orange colored body. Fruity peach and orange hop nose, with a heavy note of Munich malts adding a lot of sweetness to the nose. Flavorwise it’s similar, with that very sweet munich malt chewiness, and with a heavy dose of pine, cedar, and pear hop notes. Interesting, but not spectacular.

Bomber from Vintage Cellar in Blacksburg. Pours a surprisingly dark, brilliant orange-ruby with big beige head. The aroma is sticky, resiny pine, caramel, and grapefruit. The flavor is piney hops and very toasty malt. It’s a little more malt oriented than all those over-the-top DIPAs out there, which results in a more balanced feel. Some light caramel floats around in there, along with a straight up barley malt flavor. It finishes with some dryness and citrusy notes, and has a very clean bitterness in the aftertaste. Well made and away from the norm. Good stuff.

22oz. bottle during lunch in Williamsburg. What a shocker. Pure hoppiness smell. Tastes floral, of citrus, hops, and spices. Very spicy finish with hints of flower. Great beer.

Bottle from Whole Foods in Vienna, VA. Pours a nice copper with an off white head. Aroma of caramel and european malts joined by fruity hops. Medium bodied with a very slightly syrupy texture. The malt profile is very interesting, as it is a blend of american and german characteristics (think APA meets Octoberfest). The result is a notes of maple, caramel, bread, and toasted grains. This is countered by a firm but not aggressive bitterness that gives off some fruity and berry like flavors. Smooth bitter finish. This is more of an Imperial Red and reminds me a lot of Terrapin Big Hoppy Monster, Winter Yulesmith, and Duclaw Serum. Very good and reasonably priced. Give it a shot. In today’s marketing trends and competitive micro markets, I think they should put a little more effort in to the label design.

22oz. Excellent effort from Richmond. Dark amber with a quick, disappointing head. Moderate carbonation. Quite the shocker to learn this has 126 IBUs, the hops are extremely well balanced by interesting malts and yeast that almost deceive you into thinking it is sweet. My favorite Legend brew by far.

Great aroma, pleasant from opening. Very hoppy aroma, however not too overpowering when tasted. A bit on the sweet side and not as "thick" when compared to other imperials.

Bottle: Not bad. Strong aroma that hit me as soon as I took the cap off. Very hoppy and sweet aroma. Light color (average appearance). Good palate and good flavor. Flavor light on hop and strong on sweet taste (almost butterscotch).