Ølfabrikken 100 gram IPA

Formerly brewed at Bryggeriet Ølfabrikken (Gourmetbryggeriet)
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Roskilde, Denmark

Bottle. Pours cloudy orange with a tall, long lasting white head. Wow. Loads of hops here, no discretion is used. Nose is big in the grapefruit department with some caramel and wood buried beneath the bright acidic blast. The mouthfeel is sticky and unforgivably resinous. Drying sap and honey make a valiant effort to balance the robust hop presence. There is a sticky, herbal feel and satisfying lemon throughout with a drying finish of pine and wood. This is a deep and complex IIPA. Nicely done.

Bottle. Pours a cloudy opaque copper. There’s just a tiny bit of watery head, and it disappears quickly. Some of braids of lacing remain behind. Aroma is enjoyable, but not entirely satiable. Pleasant floral hops, passion fruit, peach. Flavor is hops, various Italian? spices, grapefruit. Spicy mouthfeel, bitter finish. Easy to drink. An interesting IPA.

22oz bomber. Pours a medium amber color with a nice head of white foam. Smells like hops, and malt. Taste of hoppy bitterness mixed with malty sweetness. A pretty decent Imperial IPA, but at $10 per bomber a bit overpriced compared to superior Imperial IPA’s such as hop-15.

Bottle, 22oz. Poured a murky cider color (I just got this in a box today from Liquid Solutions - which uses shippers that stack the beers on their side... this means that 11/12 of the beers I ordered now have sediment all over the necks. Not cool. That said, I’m not sure if this beer is supposed to be clear, but, for me, it’s not) with a soapy white head that leaves a film. Big fruity and floral hops, light alcohol. There are some really intense buttery caramel notes in the background. The aroma is really well balanced. Great, great balanced flavor with an ultra smooth finish. I don’t get the caramel in the flavor as much, but there’s the rich buttery notes still. The hops and the sweet notes play well together. The bitterness isn’t overwhelming, but it’s definitely there. Big on the palate. I have to say, in the realm of my IPA tastings, this is one of the more enjoyable beers I’ve had. Super well balanced, and still hits on all the notes that it should. Really great stuff, and just different enough to really appreciate it apart from some of the others.

Poured from a 22oz bomber and served in a tulip. This beer poured a clear, dark amber body with a quickly fading head of creamy, beige foam. Sure didn’t look unfiltered. A solid coating of lace was left around the glass. The aroma of the beer was made up of a pungent floral hop presence along with some strong caramel and toffee notes. Nice fresh aroma. The flavor consisted of creamy caramel and a very faint citrus hop bitterness. I’ve had porters with much more bite than this. It almost seemed like a young, average barley wine without much potential. The mouthfeel was full-bodied with minimal carbonation. While still quite drinkable, as far as the style goes, this beer was pretty tame. Hopefully, I just had a bottle that was past it’s prime.

Hazy amber pour, very small bubbly white head. Aroma is pungent, grapefruit, citrus and chinese duck sauce ya I said it! Flavor is upfront roasted malt, smokey, charcoal, biscuit, caramel, toffee, really strange maltiness. hops are grapefruit, lots of resin, pine and lots of floral hops in the finish. Chalky aftertaste, smokey, chocolate, very floral and fragrant but just odd. Mediium mouthfeel and low carbonation leaving a sticky cloying sweetness. Just odd and am having trouble justifying $10+ for the European IPA’s that aren’t really IPA’s at all.

It’s orange in color, medium white head. It’s big and hoppy. It’s got a solid malt backbone. It’s also extremely average. It tastes good, but it does nothing extra special. Alcohol is not all that apparent, but I can tell it’s a strong beverage. Maybe I need a fresher sample? A trip to Denmark is sounding pretty good these days.

Pours a foggy, ruby hued brown. Nose is alcohol and hops. Not much really going on there, though. Flavor is good. The alcohol is noticeable, yes. But I don’t feel like it hijacks the experience. Bitter thick hop character that doesn’t really provide much besides the bluntly obvious. Feel is good on the liquid and the carbonation is nice too. But this one just lacks a real firm character. There is nothing going on here except me feeling like my taste buds just got hit by a piece of ply wood.