Pennichuck Chief’s Imperial IPA

Brewed by Pennichuck Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Milford, New Hampshire USA

Bottle at Chris_o’s "smash Kook’s granny tasting". Alround rating: Loads of sweet caramalt, theres a good amount of citrusy lemon and grapefruit and it has a bitter finish but its too far on the sweetside of balanced for me.

Pours clear amber with a big beige head. Aroma of toffee, bitter resinous hops. Taste is quite bitter but balanced well by malt and alcohol. Medium body with smooth carbonation. Nice bitter finish.

Murky, deep pecan pour erects a tawny skyscaper of foam rubber. Aromas of minty/grassy hops (much less than expected), peanut brittle, Crisco, cheese. Smothering sappy-bbq sauce-caramel malt assault... peach, plum, and burnt raisins… a punch of herbal hops (Brewer’s Gold predominant)… and chocolate milk flavors. With a palate as thick as pureed meat, I was unable to finish the entire bomber. Pleasantly bittersweet aftertaste. This beer shows no finesse whatsoever; I feel like a bunch of overexcited highschoolers threw everything they could find into the brewkettle and called it a 2IPA because they found some leftover labels.

22oz bottle. Hazy reddish brown color, light tan head. Nasty lacing coats the entire glass. Aroma of oxidized DIPA. Caramel, nice fruit, dates and floral hops, oxidized citrus. Flavor has a deep malt backbone, lots of toasted grain, a bit of fruit, light date, a touch of spice left on the palate. Yes, fruit and dates, lots of spice. Very bold flavor, full bodied. Light carbonation although it carries a tall head. And wow, that lacing. Finishes with a bit of cedar and some pine resin hops. And even deeper in the finish is a bit of salt, are there minerals left behind in the water? Good! A very nice competion to Arrogent Bastard. A bit closer to an American BarleyWine than a DIPA. Very well done.
09 Nov 09

(Draught at Oliver Twist, Stockholm) Reddish amber colour with brief, beige head. Malty, fruity nose with notes of caramel, red berries and earthy hops. Malty, fruity taste with caramel, dark fruit, red berries and earthy hops in a rather bitter, lasting finish with a slightly vinous alcohol touch. Full body, fairly sweet. Carbonation makes it quite prickly on the tongue. Fairly heavy IPA with lots of hops and alcohol. Very nice one.

Tapper. OK so chocolately not a term i would use to describe this beer. You know who you are. PIney aroma with sweets. Nothing terribly impressive, but not awful

Bomber from Hop City. Pours really thick and dark brown with heavy legs and a small ring of head. The aroma is a little hoppy, not really sharp. Kind of reminds me of a barleywine. Raisins, a bit of hay, toffee, earth. . .The palate is very thick and not a crap ton of hops are present. Is this old? I don’t know. It doesn’t smell cheesy or aged, just malty. Lots of earth, toffee, raisins, bread, maple. This is not a good IIPA, but this is a good strong ale. It’s well rounded and balanced. Great drinker. Pretty heavy without completely weighing me down.

This is an IPA? And who cares when it tastes this good? It is a very fine ale, that much is clear. On tap at Rattle’n’Hum. Chocolatey, malty flavor with plenty of brown sugar. Vinous and tangy too, and lots of hops. 4 points - buurrrpp!