Weyerbacher Eleven

Formerly brewed at Weyerbacher Brewing Co.
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Easton, Pennsylvania USA

Bottle sampled with Beerded_one. Pours hazy amber with a large beige head. Aroma of citrus, hops, fruit, and caramel. The flavor is sweet up-front, smooth alcohol presence, citrus, fruit, caramel, with a well balanced hoppy finish. Great bosy, great brew.

bottle. So, a triple IPA, eh? The pour produces a very cloudy amber with a tall, white head. The aroma does indeed display plenty of hops, but not as intense as I would expect from something touting triple IPA on the label. However, I suppose triple IPA could insinuate strength in other categories than just apparent hoppiness. The sweetness in the aroma hints at port and raisins. The alcohol is there in the slightest, but mostly is hidden by the dense malty aroma. This is quite thick in the mouth with noticeable alcohol coming out. I’m taken aback somewhat by the strangeness of the brew. There’s a bit of leather and meat in the finish. There is an apparent level of hoppiness, but it’s a strange acidity that I don’t normally come across in other beers. Notes of mild Scotch and toffee are noticed as well. The hop intensity seems lower due to the sheer density of the malt presence. A handful of other IIPA’s "suffer" from this same "problem". Now, this is not to say that the hops aren’t huge, ’cos after a few sips, they really pummel my palate, though never really come to the foreground. This is very strange indeed, it takes until the bottom of the first glass to decide that I do indeed like this. This is a massive beer that perhaps could’ve excelled a bit more with a different hop choice. Everything melds together in a nice, though gigantic, balance; it’s just that the individual flavors are a bit odd.

Appears a hazy amber with an orange tone. A 2 finger, off-white head slowly fades out and leaves scattered bits of webbed lacing around the glass. Smell is of a heavy, hot mix of alcohol, grassy, wood noted, spicy hops, caramel, toffee, pine resin, and cooked raisins. A bit harsh but not too bad for a "Triple IPA." In fact, I had expected something even a bit more extreme. Taste? Ouch...this does a number on the tastebuds. I’m a hop fan but this mix is just a bit out of wack. Not sure what they were going for here but it’s a heavy, hot, hoppy, spiced-out caramel, raisin infused, alcohol burning mess. Mouthfeel is a mix of sweet & bitter but the balance sways back in forth in a slickness that is overtaken by a burning, hot, alcohol mix. Man, I’m not one for really sitting on high gravity IPA’s but that would be the only thing that may possibly settle this hot mess out.

Pours a slightly cloudy orange/golsd, with an off white head. Aromas are fruit, hops, and sugar. Flavors are hops, fruit, sugar, and malt. Rather bitter. I think this needs a long while to age.

Pours hazy orange with a huge frothy head that fades very slowly and leaves a coating of lace on every bit it touches. Aroma is of apricots, peach, pineapple, mild hard caramel. When cold the flavor has a hard bitter wood dominate flavor that is a bit odd. As the beer warms up the hard woodiness transitions into an extremely bitter earthy, citric, peachy hoppiness mixed with some sticky sweet malts. This makes you think about bitterness in new ways, it gives it a heavy weight on the tongue. Full body, smooth almost sticky palate.

color is bright and deep clear copper, big tall rocky and fluffy off-white/light tan head. aroma is strong hop but balanced with sweet malt, some dried orange peel, biscuity, and very subdued pine. flavor is mostly strong hop, backed with sweet malt (a bit syrupy but not too much.) flavor gets more bitter towards the finish, mouthfeel is a little sticky. a bit of ginny/mild vodka like heat in the finish. aftertaste is bitter gin. lots of spiraling thick lacing clumps. OK, I think it’s time to have a triple IPA category, because this desrves it’s own class just like a belgian tripel or a barley wine. I actually liked this much more than the DFH 120min, as weyerbacher has kept the balance and not "tipped the scales." call it a hop wine??

An orange beer with a huge orange head. The aroma is sweet and very grassy, but also with a spicy note, that reminds me of Belgian beers. The flavor is very powerful, and very hoppy - like a strong hop soup, with a slight touch of oranges, and with a very bitter end. Good for hopheads.

So the English learned to grow good hops, huh? Huge hop flavor. Extremely sticky and resiny hop flavor with pine, bubble gum and gummy bears. Citrus flavor is there too, but takes a backseat to the sticky-sweetness. Huge malt up front. Biscuity flavor. Light but intense. Massive sweetness is balanced well by enormous bitterness in the back. It all comes together so well though. The beer is huge in every way, but carefully crafted to maintain balance. Everything fits together perfectly. Even the big alcohol burn is kept at bay by the rest of the flavors. This is the definition of a big beer, and done very well.