 ElGaucho (1719), Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Feb 16, 2008
Bottle. Love the wax top! Wonderful, sweet, fruity, hoppy aroma with near perfect balance. It’s hard to imagine a more perfect aroma, so i will go ahead and give it the perfect 10, which I don’t do so lightly. Slightly hazy dark gold body with plentiful visible carbonation rising from the middle of the glass. Similar in this way to ST’s Big Red. I love a beer that has carbonation like this because it confirms that the beer is alive and fresh. Beautiful lacing that leaves layers on the glass, revealing the succession of consumption, like a tree stump reveals its rings of history. If you’re an IPA/Double IPA nut like me, you get to a point when you’ve had a couple hundred of them where it’s hard to determine, without comparing side-by-side, where the top entries rank. When you taste an outstanding one, you just know it’s outstanding. But how outstanding? It’s sometimes hard to say. Is this the best Double IPA I’ve ever had. I don’t think so. Can I be sure of that? Not really. I’m not sure I’d even be able to say it’s better than one of it’s blended elements, UnEarthly, is on it’s own as I recall liking that better. Although I’m pretty sure I like it better than the Hoppe on it’s own. Reminds me very much like Three Floyds Alpha King, even given the considerable difference in strength. Gemini hides it’s strength whereas Alpha King accentuates it’s. I would love to put this brew up against the likes of Dreadnaught and Ruination. I think it could hold it’s own and wouldn’t be overly surprised if it beat out one of them in a taste test.
I’m generally a beer purist and shy away from mixing beers together. Without a lot of experience in doing this, I have still seen where it has created a beer better than the sum of it’s parts. That isn’t the case with this beer, as it doesn’t surpass the UnEarthly, at least i don’t think so without comparing them directly, but the product is very impressive indeed. What’s perhaps not logical is that Alpha King is that my rating for Alpha King is still one of my few perfect 5s. This brew is better, yet doesn’t get the top rating. I bought 3 other bottles to bring with me for beer enthusiast friends of mine in MN. For their sake, let’s hope they make it there.
radiomgb (1706), Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
Jul 4, 2008 Golden-orange in colour, large off-white coloured head, excellent retention, good lacing. The aroma is very hoppy, quite green, pine, cedar, citrus, caramel malt sweetness. The flavour is moderately sweet, some pink grapefruit citrus, moderate bitterness, some caramel. Sticky and very hoppy mouthfeel, medium/large body, medium carbonation. Finishes long, hoppy, sweet.
It really seems like they ran out of ideas when they made this one. Its good but it falls into the same-old, same-old category when it comes to DIPA’s. Then there is that damn cap....
650ml bottle from IPFreely, thanks Tim.
Opened on February 9, 2008.
No date.
oakbluff (186), Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Jul 3, 2008 Bomber courtesy of hogtown harry- pours a pale golden hue. Good head and lacing. Nose- earthy smelling with some fruits. Taste- pale malts are really present. Hop flavour is a mix of pine and some tropical fruits. Might be past its prime as I really love Unearthly and Hoppe on their own. The mix is like a poor sequel. More malt flavour than expected. Carbonation is medium and drinkability is good. Very little hotness present given high abv.
redlem (1087), Illinois, USA
Jul 3, 2008 OK, I majored in polymer chemistry in college and whatever that gold crap covering the cap is, it aint wax. Note to self....never buy Southern Tier again until they take the gold shit off, cause what’s in the bottle is not worth the effort. A very pedesterian take on a tradition of mixing beers. Like most Degustation type meal this means "leftovers." Mixing of two beers is fine but when they are virtually the same thing, why bother. This tastes very plastic, amine-like, in th hop profile which the malts cannot overcome. You got to love a commercial description that does not describe anything about the beer. classic, but not this beer.
GAManiac (178), Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Jun 29, 2008 Bottle. Took a crowbar to get through the gold wax on this guy.
Pours a bright golden amber with a big, dense head that lingers as a thin bubbly head for the duration. Lacing is very good.
Aroma is a big blast of citrus hops up front, namely grapefruit and oranges. This is on top of the big bready malt backbone with caramel and biscuits in the nose. Despite the huge hop profile, the malt really shows up in the aroma.
The taste is similar to the smell, but the first hop taste I got was more on the pine resin side of things. This is followed by the big caramel malt backbone before the citrus and pine come back in to finish off the taste.
Mouthfeel is medium bodied with some serious carbonation and sticky with pine hops lending to a slight bitterness throughout.
I’ve had quite a few Southern Tier brews and this might be at the top of the list as I really enjoyed the balance of hops and malts. Dangerously drinkable - I would seek this one out.
amc3000 (33), houston, Texas, USA
Jun 28, 2008 bomber. pours a very clean amber straw color, the aroma is floral and fresh. this beer has a very nice balance between malt and hops. the alcohol is well hidden. very nice.
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