Moylans Hopsickle Imperial India Pale Ale

Brewed by Moylans Brewery & Restaurant
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Novato, California USA

Bottle, 22 fl. oz. Pours a clear amber beer with an offwhite head. The aroma is hops. The flavor is hops with citrus and grapefruit. The palate is bitter. Overall a good beer with a good balance.

Clear amber color with a nice glowing glare. Cream-colored head, rather small but it leaves plenty of lacings. The smell is dominated by hops. Plenty of grapefruit, some mango. Notes of mint and pine-needles. Sweet caramel and fudge. A good smell, but the hops are not as clear-cut as I would have liked them to be. And well what do you know, the taste is also dominated by hops. An obvious emphasis on grapfruit up front. More exotic fruit (pineapple, kwi) with a subtle tart-like character. Plenty of sweetness with a slightly too prominent flavor of caramel taking the lead. Some fudge and low-quality bread. The finish really bitter, but the bitterness enters with a good timing and seems to fit great with the aromas. Plenty of malts in the finish actually, but even more so pine-needles, hop resins and faint spices. Some alcohol. The finish gets slightly perfumy. Medium body, decent amount of stickiness in the mouthfeel. This is a good beer, but perhaps not as good as I had hoped for. The hops could have been more precise in their character and the sweet taste of caramel could have been a little more restrained. (It should be noted that I don’t know how fresh this bottle was, perhaps it had some months on it.) But still, a very good beer. Serving type: bottle (Copy of old Beer Advocate review)

Appearance: glowing copper with a frothy head; Aroma: buttered pine needles and forest floor, maple-dipped flower petals, a touch of darker maltiness; Flavor: beta hoppage!! bitter attack with lingering sour fruit finish (in a damn good way!). The finish lingers for a good 2 minutes before relenquishing its bitter grip. This baby performs! Palate: solid, substantial, savory. Overall: I burped hops. Mirroring great herb, this babysets you down easy after hopping you up. The aromas subdue you in to hoppiness, and gently slay your palate right before your eyes, but somehow manage to ease you into its brute flavor and velvety finish. This TripHop Ale is a beast to be reckoned with!

RnH: Pours a very light copper/ amber. WOW!!! Fantastic mouth... attacking... tons of fruit... sweaty, oily, peat like... DARKNESS yet balanced with bright and LIGHT citrus.

Draught at Pizzeria Paradiso. Clear golden with a medium white head, little lacing. Amazing aroma of freshly mowed grass and hay. Taste hits you over the head with large amounts of hoppy bitterness, too over the top for my taste. Decent bitter finish.

Tap at Rattle and Hum. Poured a deep rich amber with no head. The nose pops with hops that are piny floral and sticky. Body is medium but very resiny. The hops dominate but there is a hint albeit small of balance. Finish is a bitter blast. But this isn’t just a hop bomb. There is a subtle complexity that makes it hard to put your glass down.

Bottle that I took to the release of Flaming Fury. Pours a clear orange with a thin white head. Huge pine and citrus with a slight vanilla backbone. Medium bodied with a light malty sweetness. Huge long grapefruit and quinine bitterness. This was really good.

On tap at Pizzeria Paradiso in Dupont Circle

Pours a light, very hazy, bright yellow with a thin white head that leaves okay lacing. Aroma is white pepper, tropical fruits, pineapple. Taste is raw, tropical mangoes and mango rind with ruby red grapefruit and orange peel. Huge, bitter palate. Very easy to drink. Abv is well hidden.