 kramer (1875), sunbury, Pennsylvania, USA
Sep 5, 2008 22 oz bottle, via cloudskipper. Pours a beautiful clear copper body with a one inch foamy beige head. Nice retention and lots of sticky lacing. Big intense grapefruit nose, smells more like the fruit than a beer. Some heavy maltiness as well, toffee and toasty. The hops are just as big as the nose indicated, but surprisingly not overly bitter or hash. Full malt backbone giving a background sweetness. A little minty hops late in the finish. Not especially complex, this guy is just straight forward hops. Mouthfeel is full and sturdy with a slight resiny stickiness and moderate soft carbonation. Not as good as what I was hoping for, still very good, but not much for subtlety.
sunevdj (1384), Copenhagen, Denmark
Aug 31, 2008 @ home with the club. Pours a clear amber with an off-white head. Sweet with some bitterness. Quite hoppy and perfumey aromas. Hints of plant sap. Slightly peppery. Very fruity with aromas of peaches and pineapples. Perfect hops profile. I love the play between the malts and the hops.
GAManiac (294), Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Jul 28, 2008 Pours a deep hazy amber with a bubbly off-white head that shows very good retention and solid lacing. The aroma has a huge citrus kick up front with grapefruit and tangerines with a bit of floral pine scents as well. The caramel malt background is also evident behind the hops. The taste is a sweeter, more balanced version of the aroma with the citrus hops hitting up front before giving way to the impressive malt backbone in the middle. The pine comes out a bit in the finish with some nice bitterness. The mouthfeel is medium to full and completely sticky with hop juice goodness. Drinkability is fantastic on this one and I could drink this all night.
xnoxhatex (791), Chicago, Illinois, USA
Jul 21, 2008 Bottle acquired in trade. Hazy red with creamy medium head. Aroma is hoppy citrus, caramel, big hops, really nice. Citrus and pine flavor with a good caramel back bone, big west coast flavors all around. Medium body with a nice creaminess. Awesome hop head IIPA which is surprising because I thought this was older than it tasted.
rallison (50), USA
Jul 9, 2008 Finally, a nice fresh bottle from which to try this brew.
Pours a dark-ish amber color with a 1 finger white head that leaves some lacing.
Smells deliciously hoppy and resinous with touches of sweet malt.
Wonderfully bitter and resinous in the hop character, almost verging on being of the harsh variety - but luckily it straddles that line on the enjoyable side. Lots and lots of lingering bitterness. Impressive malt body behind it that plays a non-trivial role but still lets the hops shine, especially on the end. This one leans more toward the bitter versus aromatic hops, but they pull that off nicely.
Mouthfeel is relatively crisp despite the significant body with a nice level of carbonation. Drinkability is very good.
Highly recommended. I had a bottle before that didn’t do it for me - this one really seems to be a drink fresh or don’t bother sort of DIPA.
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