Portsmouth Imperial IPA

Brewed by Portsmouth Brewery
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Portsmouth, New Hampshire USA

22 ounce bomber bottle from the brewery in July. Pours clear reddish-amber till the yeast from the bottom of the bottle stirs. Respectable, short-lived head, no lace. Very citrusy hop-heavy aroma with some sweet floral notes. Great full flavor. Again very citrusy and hop-dominated, but with a solid malt backbone. Surprisingly balanced finish. Medium bodied, smooth and warming without being hot. Excellent DIPA.

In short: Archetypical American IIPA. Standard but way above average.
How: Tap at Vermont Brewers Festival 2008
The look: Clear dark copper body topped by a small off-white head
In long: Nose in unmistakably IPA American style. Floral, resinous, citrusy and all. Malt backbone is totally adequate to support this hops avalanche with a sweetness flavour contribution that is 2/3 smooth caramel, 1/3 crisp honey. Filling but crisp body, flavourful bitterness, long finish. Clean beer. Execution is flawless. Doesn’t re-invent the style but nobody wants the style to be re-invented anyway with all those labels that would have to be redone.

Pours dark copper with a chill haze. A half inch head of white rose up before creeping back to a partial skim-coat. Errant dots of lacework for the duration. Aromatics are pungently hoppy. Resinous with a bitter promise. This one’s a mix of pine, tropical fruit, and light malt. Tangerines, spruce sap, melons, sugared grapefruit, and dried apricots. Earthy-like conifer bark, and pear pulp. Medium bodied, but a bit chewy and plenty sticky. The pallet leads off with ripe citrus fruit, pine dew, and a firm bitterness. Zesty hops and quite piney. Balancing malt steps up and some warming alcohol builds with a more drying bitterness. Finishes with lingering bitterness and citrus zest. Very tasty, but coming short on the nose. With a IIPA this fresh, it should be screaming out of the glass with floral pungentness

Growler, courtesy of wickedpete. Thanks, Pete! Pours a clear, orange-amber color; light-tan head with solid, fine-bubbled lacing. Lots of earthy, bitter hoppiness, brown sugar, and candy sugar in the aroma; bitter, light astringency. Solid carbonation. Medium-to-full mouthfeel: lots of brown sugar, earthy bitterness, and chewy dried fruits upfront; some astringency, lots of maltiness, and just a touch rough. Lengthy finish: lots of lasting earthy bitterness, toasty malts, and dried fruits; dry and bitter end.

Caramel brown color, no head formation. Slight biscuit and caramel aroma, nice strong floral hops, and sweetness in the back of the nose. Flavor has a strong biting bitterness up front followed by a nicely balanced caramel, biscuit malty body.

(BCTC, 22oz bottle, thanks dickinsonbeer) Medium off-white head atop dark amber body that is clear other than tiny flecks. Aroma is moderately sweet, grapefruit/orange, pine, some mango, alcohol. Taste is moderately sweet, pine/grapefruit, some caramel, alcohol, light orange. Medium-full body, some chewiness, acidity.

Bottle shared by dickisonbeer at BCTC. Thanks Paul! Aroma was very citrusy and piney hops. Flavor has a slick, syrupy mouthfeel with more piney and citrus hops, and a standard malt backbone. Pretty good double ipa.

Objectively speaking: Classic American imperial IPA.
I like: Intense, straightforward and no-nonsense hop aroma. Great-looking white head atop the beautiful sunny golden. Sprucey, oily, resinous hop oils accompany the perfumey, honeyed malt base. Highly aromatic all throughout. Biting bitterness. Soft on the crystal malts and well-controled sweetness.
I dislike: A bit overly acidic if anything, but this was a fine example that remained drier than most.