Thomas Creek Up the Creek Extreme IPA

Pours copper with a white head. Smells of citrus, some earthy hints, peppery. Tastes spicy and bitter with a metallic finish.

12oz bottle courtesy of brentfeesh – thanks Brent! Pours clear deep dark amber with a one finger beige head that leaves lacing like latex paint. The nose is caramel malt, burnt toffee and overripe citrus. The taste is brown sugar, fruit, tart citrus and molasses with a slight alcohol burn in the finish. Medium bodied. Big beer – very warming. A slow sipper for sure.

12oz. Bottle: Aroma of hops, malts, slight alcohol, toasted caramel, light wood, light evergreen, and slight alcohol. Poured brown/very deep amber/ruby in color with a large, creamy, dense, rocky, beige head that diminished but lasted throughout. Clear. Lightly sparkling. Excellent lacing. Flavor is medium bitter and light to medium sweet. Tastes of hops, toasted caramel, malts, light resin, light wood, and a little pine. Medium body. Oily, then dry texture. Average carbonation. Hops, toasted caramel, and malt finish is dry. 12.5%ABV is dangerously well hidden.

12 ounce bottle from Wine & Beer Westpark, Richmond, VA. Pours a very dark moderate sized brown creamy head. Good head retention and lacing. Aroma of strong citrus malts with a big toffee malt note. Taste is VERY malty... toffee, molasses, raisin and anise. Some bitter resiny citrus malts as well. This is a malt bomb more like a barleywine than a DIPA. Good beer though. Full bodied with high bitterness, soft carbonation and a bit of alcohol warmth.

Pours dark ruby brown with a thick tan head. Aroma is hop spice and thick sweet molasses. Taste is sweeter and spicier than most IPA’s with a cinnamon bread taste. More of a roast finish than bitter hop. Thick body and smooth carbonation.

Bottle from Bruisin’. Pours a reddish brown with a small head. I don’t get any extreme hop qualities in the aroma at all. It has hints of tobacco, toffee, earth, and some decent wooden hops. Smells like a barleywine. The palate is fairly dense, but not like I might expect from 12% abv. The flavor is that of a barleywine: toffee, earth, blunt, but not very strong, bitterness. This is in line with a lot of the "IIPA’s" from the Carolinas, that is to say it is a barleywine.

Poured a reddish copper with a little white head. Nose was big on vanilla, smelled almost like a baked good. Taste was very sweet with vanilla, caramel, chocolate malt, and roasted nuts. Balanced with a big slightly harsh bitterness. A surprisingly good beer, however does not belong in the DIPA category, there is very little that makes this a DIPA.

Septemberfest. Sample from a bottle thanks to tronraner. Red brown, light beige head. Aroma is whisky, heavy caramel, sweet light grassy hops, alcohol. Taste is big caramel, very sweet, fruity, alcohol, an almost vanilla oaky whiskey like character. This is a Barley Wine.