Moylans Hopsickle Imperial India Pale Ale

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

Pours a hazy, dark reddish-amber color. The first pour exhibited more clarity than the second, as there’s a ton of unavoidable yeasty sediment in this one. A large, frothy, egg wash head shows excellent retention, and leaves thick patchwork lacing all the way down the glass. The aroma is pure SoCal IIPA, with heaps of fresh orange, grapefruit, and tropical fruity hops. Mango and peach are present, as is a heap of fresh cream and caramel. There’s a faint grassyness in the background as well. The flavor shows a heavy malt bias up front, toffee in particular. Quickly, it shifts to dominating, bitter grapefruit and orange hops. An ample amount of cream smoothes things out, but its still on the hoppy side of balanced. Finishes long and bitter. Medium-full bodied, with just the slightest bit of astringency. Big, big beer. There are alot of huge aromas and flavors moving around in this one.

22oz bottle, thanks to davecooks for this bottle. pours a hazy orange with big white head. nose is of floral and fruity hops, slight pine in there too. really not that hoppy of a nose. flavor is pretty resiny and juicy hops. biitter but not crisp. hop flavor is pretty messy. this is tasty but not an impressive iipa.3.5

12/6/07, 22oz bottle, this bottle seems a bit fresher. pours dense glowing orange with nice white head. aroma of resiny, grapefruit, pine, and some bubblegum hop notes. flavor is nice and bitter with sweet piney and grapefruit hops that are really resiny. a slight touch of caramel malt and alcohol. body is med. each sips begs for another. when this fresh it worthy of the high marks.4.0

note added 1/29/2009: I’m not sure why the wet hopsickle is listed as an alias of this beer. I had them side by side and they taste different. I had this brew at Dr. BIll’s 12 Hour Beer extravaganza in Anaheim, CA on August 20, 2005. Thanks, Dr. Bill. Very dry hoppy, nice but nothing outstanding.

Poured a clear, orange amber. Small to medium whitish head. Aroma is great; citrus and pine; some caramel and floral notes. Oily mouthfeel. Flavor is a great balance of caramel malt and citrus and pine hops.

2007 Vintage

8/14/2008: This bottle of Moylan’s Hopsickle Imperial Triple Hoppy Ale has about a year of age on it, but it still manages to deliver quite a blast of hop flavor and bitterness. Sweet, candied citrus (orange and grapefruit) peel and quite a bit of caramel maltiness mend into a big juicy aroma. The beer has an opaque orange color with a creamy and frothy ivory-colored head on top that creates good lacing on the glass. The flavor delivers a hefty dose of instant citrus bitterness across the entire tongue followed by a nice creamy caramel maltiness and then more substaintial bitterness. The bitterness level is somewhere between high and even higher. However, it somehow still seems balanced due to the hefty maltiness. My guess is that some of the really fresh and juiciness of the hops have faded a bit, but there is still a lot of orange, grapefruit, citrus peel flavor to it along with some floral and resin qualities. It is still more IIPA than Barleywine. Regardless, this beer does not disappoint. It delivers the flavor, the hoppiness, the bitterness, and the alcohol all wrapped up into a medium-full body that glides smoothly over the palate. I personally like this beer with a bit of age on it as I find it overly bitter and more of an enamal stripper when it is really fresh (although sometimes that does hit the spot!)...

1 pt. 6 fl. oz. bottle (Alcohol 9.2% by Volume; $5.99+tax) from River’s Bend Wine and Spirits in Maineville, Ohio. Rating #543 for this beer...

0.66 l bottle at Pikkulintu, Helsinki. Deep copper color. Strong piney hop aroma with toffeish and nutty maltiness in the background. Pungent bitter, piney, fruity and soapy hop flavor with some sweetness and nutty maltiness. Some alcohol sharpness. Pretty tasty but the hop character is too soapy.

Bottle. A dark hazy rich amber color with a tan head. This beer just looks rich and delightful. Grassy hops, grapefruit, and pine aroma. The aromatic hops float above the glass. Oily and rich, the caramel and malts drip with hop resin to pack a respectully intense hoppy beer. Although clearly high in alcohol content, it doesn’t push itself too far. Well balanced, although not in the upper tier of double IPAs.

Lovely auburn hue, thoroughly hazed, with a sturdy, creamy head, ...nice looking IPA. Nose is a blistering blitz of hops, big, fat pine resin, slick, dripping citrus, grapefruit and mango, with orange and lemon and lime...rollicking in a pine forest with a cornucopia of fruit rolling through the leaves and the needles...yum...me likey...just the thing for me. Fresh, and flush with flavor. Huge taste, floods the mouth, and stretches this hophead’s lips into a mega-smile, yes, it does. Amble malt carries the thick delicious and bitter hop attack happily along the palate and delivers the drinker into bliss. Yum, again... Big body, thick texture, long, hoppy, bitter, fruity finish. Non-stop hop attack. Exactly what you want from a Double IPA. Tomahawk, Cascade and Centennial. 9.2% abv. Dang, this is a great brew from a class act outfit. I would suck this up aplenty if I had easy access to it. You lucky West Coasterers! Damn you to Hell!