McNeills Warlord Imperial IPA

Brewed by McNeills Brewery
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Brattleboro, Vermont USA

Rerate: I enjoy this type of beer more than I used to. I appreciate the extra malt kick to compliment the floral hoppy finish. I’m still a little nonplussed by the name, however. It’s more of an ESB-- because of the extra malt character-- than an IPA. One could also categorize this as an American strong ale, much like the nationally known Stone Arrogant Bastard, with which this local brew compares admirably. A fine beer, and it definitely hides the 8% kick.

22oz Bottle, purchased at Wakefield Liquors - Wakefield, RI. Musky orchid-filled outgassing, rich with Tahitian vanilla bean, peaches, and juicy resins. Pleasant and rich. Pours a hazy orange skin and sunset, with a soapy off-white lace. Flavor develops bright hop-filled alcohols, candied bitter orange peel, drying sweetgrass and a bit of salty salicornia. A thick luscious malt body helps play off the aggressive hop flavor. Spicy and musky as alcohols draw into the nose. This has a wonderful hop bouquet, a well-balanced body, and rich complex flavor profile. Excellent. Some might saw it was a touch sweet, a little hot, and edging dusty, but those edges can easily be overlooked, because this beer done well.

Orange-amber color. Quite cloudy. Rocky head that leaves chunky lace on the glass. More earthy (and malty) than most IIPA’s. Surprisingly mild in the hop department. Unusually sweet, but in an interesting way. The hop shows up lightly for an IPA but well-balanced for any other ale. I like the unusual nature of this beer. It is different from any beer I’ve had before. I love the creativity, even if it departs from norm.

Bottle: Cloudy orange with a large white head, spicy pine citrus hops with some alcohol notes, big chewy body with a juicy mouthfeel, starts and ends bitter with a long slightly sweet ending. Thanks dirtymike!

My Bottom Line:
Grapefruity, floral, spicy hoppiness thrives atop minutious honeyed maltiness, leading to a leafy, wooden hop bitterness. This is not a Double IPA which will destroy through tastebuds, but rather one which commands you to drink more of it. What a novel concept.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A slice of foam tops the hazy peach golden.
-The body is slick and healthy, leading to effortless drinking.
-The crunchy pale maltiness does not quite balance out the hoppiness, but that’s not the purpose of this style anyway.
-Alcohol is not apparent in the flavor profile.
-This is well levelled and not agressive at all; pure, drinkable hop glory.
-The bottle was almost as tasty and fresh as the tap version.

On tap at the brewpub and from the bottle.

This should receive points for the ease at which if flows. An 8.5er that drinks like a soothing ale. What makes this IIPA special, however, is the lingering bitterness. This is not an up-front hop drink. It’s mellow and understated, like much at McNeill’s. Those of you scared off by oxidation comments, well, don’t be. New bottling line here and the label will look different from the one on this site. McNeill’s is frustratingly inconsistent, not between its beers but within its beers. Here’s to some consistency and more beer like this one.

On tap at McNeill’s brewery 1/3/07: Pours to a mostly clear orange-amber-copper colored body with a small white head. The aroma has plenty of aromatic hops - citrus, grapefruit, grass, fresh floral hops - almost like sticking your head into a bad of hop pellets, although it’s not quite assaulting the nose to the level of something like Pliney. The taste shows plenty of bitterness from the hops - citrus, grapefruit, light pine, more floral bitterness, some grass/plant, though it’s well done and the hops dominate both the aroma and flavor without completely destroying your senses after a few sips - something I don’t mind. There’s a bit of light caramel, bread crust, light malt flavors in there but this one is solidly focused on the hops. While it doesn’t taste as fresh and over the top as a Pliney or a west coast IIPA, it does have a very bright hop quality about it that still conveys plenty of bitterness and flavor. Light-medium bodied, medium carbonated, finished with extended floral/citrus hop flavors. This is a good one, at least on tap.

Pours a slightly hazy copper bronze with a thin well-lacing wispy white head. Aroma of nice, fresh piny grapefruity hops and a good, lightly sweet caramel malty presence. Starts with a good sweet caramel maltiness and fresh grapefruity bittering and flavor hoppy balance. Finishes crisp and bittersweet with decent complexity of flavor. A nice IIPA.