Moylans Hopsickle Imperial India Pale Ale

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

Amber-orange, nice head, big, sticky, and puffy, hangs around quite a while. Nose is hoppy (not surprisingly), some grapefruit with lots of pine. Flavor is . . . I’d like to find a better phrase than "painfully astringent", but that’s about all I can come up with; this is hoppiness taken to an extreme, trying to suck as much bitterness out of the beer as possible. It’s a harsh mix of grapefruit and concentrated pine resin. Any residual sweetness dies at the swallow, all the malt backbone fleeing in terror at the overpowering harshness of the hops. It is, at least, not cloying and has a reasonably good palate, decently full without being sticky, but this is yet another case of bigger not necessarily being better; simply adding as much bitterness as possible to an IIPA does not mean it’s even vaguely good.

Semi translucent and dusty brass in color with an oily ice layer for the head on the first pour, with more fluffy off-white foam substance appearing on later pours for the head. Aroma is set to see the summer out: greasy potato chips, slaughtered mango, puce apricot chews, honey induced rubber soled grapefruit, and some peaches & cream. Semi-sulfurous flavored afterthoughts let us eventually work our way back to crisp cascade flavor hop traits, seemingly building with its bittering brethren 10 seconds post gestation. Surprisingly reserved carbonation, especially for this brewery. Jaundiced grapefruit creates a waxy palate glaze while papaya meets sweet potatoes somewhere in the center. Gummy gumption perseveres through the teeth tossing. Arid and clean bitter sweeps reap the puckering promises as foretold on the label, but it’s not the star of the show - it’s a freebee’s encore. Medium-bodied all the way through, with an arid, nomadically clean finish. The aluminum’s still there, if you care to dwell on it. Lose the tomahawk and then we’ll talk. Thanks for the bomber, tpkenned!

Rerate after HATING this the first time... 5/3/4/2/9 = 2.3. This time it was better. Dark amber with a moderate head, good lacing and decent retention. Aroma is some PNW hops, some spicy and lightly smoked hops. Medium to heavy body with a somewhat bitter finish. Still not into the Tomahawk hop, but it’s hella better than last. I guess I’m not big into mixing that type hop in IPAs unless it’s the only type. Somewhat enjoyable, and at least I know my palate has evolved in the last 14 months.

Bottle at the Knoxville Spring(ish) tasting. Pours copper with ecrue head. The aroma is very orangey hops and some very light toast. The flavor sports a lightly citric bitterness with some cotton candy and lots of fruity hops, especially in the finish. It leaves a decent, bitter aftertaste. Pretty good.

Very clear amber with a off white head. Awesome pine sap and sweet floral hop aromas. Medium body with soft carbonation. Big hop show here, with floral and pine with a sweet malty base to balance. Fucking great ipa

Bottle. Trade with TytoAnderso. Pours a A orangish golden color.Huge sticky, resiny piney hop aroma. Almost frighteneing. Big hop bite in the taste. Almost bordering on harsh but not quite there. Great sticky hop mouthfeel. Very well done

tan orange with a lasting creamy lacing head. a pine and grapefruit bomb in the nose. strong grapefruit taste. the back of my tongue burns in a good way. a cotton candy flavor lies underneath all the hop flavors. a bit sticky. grapefruit lingers long after everything else has faded.

nice orange pour with a thin cream head. grapefruits, fresh hops and oranges on the nose. nice and smooth on the palate with an awesomely smooth flavor of hops and a really bitter piney hop finish. awesome imperial ipa.