Portsmouth Imperial IPA

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

(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.

22oz bottle shared courtesy of zrrbrrt. Poured a medium and hazy amber color with a smaller sized off white head. Aromas grapefruit rind, orange peels, caramel, pine and caramel. Tastes of grapefruit, oranges, caramel, and melons. Nicely balanced. Alcohol content well hidden. A very enjoyable IIPA.

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.

12 ounce draught glass at the brewpub in mid-May 2007. Dark honey-apricot color with a lasting small smooth cream head....big, luscious fruity nose, peaches and apricots in light natural syrup, really fresh at the front but with a dried, musty quality apparent after a few nosings, lightly woody hops to go with the fruity juiciness....beautiful-drinking, fruity-light honey character upfront in the mouth, melds effortlessly with the drier, earthy-loamy hops that start biting at midpalate....floral character comes to dominate things halfway through the glass....on the verge of being too syrupy, but the strong carbonation cuts things nicely. This was a joy to drink, one of the best interpretations I’ve had lately and another jewel in this great brewpub’s crown.

Wow- I had no idea this beer was so rare. Probably should have saved it until a gathering. Too late now. Bomber from the brewery brougth back from Hophead75 on his latest trip in Dec I think. Pours a very hazy murky straight amber with a merangue -like off white head and crazy lace- there is a shitload of hops and other sediment floating aroud in there and I didnt even pour the bottom of the bottle yet. Aroma is piney and pine-sollike hops, some resin and lots of mint and earthy cold smokey chinook hops. Flavor is at first very mellow- with nice piney and minty hops upfront and a nice smooth lasting light crystal malt backbone- and then the raw tacky bitterness of the PNW hops kicks in . Feels and tastes suprisingly clean despite a shitload of sediment going all over the place in my glass. Actually, I kinda liked this one a bit more than I had thought. Nice DIPA.

Thanks to zzbrrt. Pours a lightly hazy golden amber with an average bubbly off white head that left slight lacing. Aroma of caramel, pine, orange, grapefruit, candy corn and some oxidation. Flavor of caramel, pine, grapefruit and a slight butterness hidden in there. Kind of thin and lots of bitterness.

10th of 10 tasting flight @ Portsmouth. Listed as Imperial IPA, I can only guess they are one and the same. Pours dark amber with a bright white ring. Nose is big full of hops. Taste is sweet hoppy and nice, its a solid Imperial IPA, not amazing as some but well beyond the poor status so many fall into.

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.