Pisgah Vortex I

Brewed by Pisgah Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Black Mountain, North Carolina USA

Bottle shared at tasting from wagenvolks. Thanks Drew! Pours orange with a fizzy lasting beige head. Smell is light caramel with grassy, strong hops. Taste is earthy, grassy, hops, nicely dry and bitter. Light balancing sweetness and refreshing and clean. Pretty enjoyable.

Pours very hazed, orangey brown with a dense foamy light brown head. The nose is candy seet with a grapefruit rind. Same grapefruit flavor with sweet muddled malt flavors. Thick syrupy body with a sweet finish. Good, but it doesn’t compare with the top of the style.

22oz bottle, dated 3/09 and listed with 9.8% ABV. Poured into a tulip. Pours a slightly hazy deep amber with a massive 3-inch head that stays on top as a cap for the duration and leaves sheets of lacing. The aroma is really juicy with tons of citrus fruit, grapefruit, oranges and tangerines. The malts stay in the background in the nose and the bitterness of the hops stings the nose a little bit, or maybe it’s the alcohol. Either way, great smelling brew. The taste isn’t quite as impressive as the nose for me but still has the dominant citrus fruits which leaves a massive bitterness that builds up after each sip and leaves the palate layered with hops. The citrus is led by the grapefruit which really kicks up the bitterness. The bready malts are evident but definitely secondary. The mouthfeel is medium to full bodied with tons of sticky hops and plenty of carbonation. This is definitely one of the better DIPAs I’ve had recently and full of tropical fruits. The drinkability is good but not great due to the abrasive nature of the hop profile. Still, a great beer.

Pours hazy amber with a thick beige head. Smells sweet and tart. Bitter taste with some dark fruit. Funky bitter finish, but I was shocked to see that it is 133 IBU. Doesn’t seem like it is all it could be.

Draft at barleys asheville. Pours a nice copper gold with some haze. Creamy offwhite one finger head. The nose is very citrusy, malty, sweet background, mildly spicy, less upfront aroma when compared to flavor, some raw mushroom. The flavor is spicy, grapefruit rind, mango, mild phenol, citrusy, sweet malt. Nice spicy grapefruit rind bitterness.

Draft @ Barley’s in Asheville. Nice pour with orange color. Not much going on here. Almost taste as if an old keg. Minimal hop in the nose and in the taste.

Draft at barleys. Nice lacing. Pretty pour. Nice, but hop combo tastes like aspirin bitterness. Okay.

Sampled on draft at the brewery. Pours a very hazy orange color with a large head. Good head retention and lacing. Aroma is bitter, resiny hops with toffeeish malts and some nutty notes. Taste is very bitter. EXTREMELY bitter. Resin, herbal, earthy and minty, balanced by toffee. Full bodied.