Tag Archives: Imperial IPA

Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA

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In the previous post I reviewed Dogfish Head’s 60 Minute IPA, so today it is time for their 90 Minute IPA. The bottle I have isn’t super fresh, but it was bottled in the end of March 2014, so hopefully it will still be in good shape.

dogfish_head_90_ipa

  • Brewery: Dogfish Head Brewery
  • Country: USA
  • Style: Imperial IPA
  • ABV: 9 %
  • Size: 355 ml
  • Bought from: Online
  • Beer Advocate
  • RateBeer

I wasn’t extremely impressed by the 60 minute IPA, so am not getting my expectations up too much, since the 60 minute IPA should be a ‘dumbed down’ version of the 90 minute, which was first released two years earlier in 2001. As the 60 minute IPA, this beer has also been hopped continuously (i.e. small additions of hops are added throughout the boil, instead of e.g. an addition at the beginning and end of the boil) throughout the 90 minute boil. The beer is 9.0% ABV and has a IBU level of 90. Again, I don’t have much ‘official’ information on the ingredients in the beer, but from what I’ve gathered from around the internet (homebrew forums), the malt bill consists of English pale ale and TF amber malt, the beer is hopped with a mixture of Warrior, Amarillo and Simcoe, and it is fermented with a Ringwood-related yeast strain. So, will the 90 minute IPA live up to the hype?

[easyreview title=”Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA” cat1title=”Appearance” cat1detail=”The beer pours crystal clear, and with a glowing golden-orange color. A huge fluffy white head is formed, despite the quite careful pour. The foam head collapses slowly, and leaves large patches of lacing along the glass. A really nice appearance (very similar to the 60 minute IPA)!” cat1rating=”4.5″ cat2title=”Smell” cat2detail=”The aroma is a balance between crisp hop tones, with citrus, resin and floral hints, together with a caramelly and bready maltiness. Not much alcohol is detectable. The aroma could be slightly stronger, and I would personally prefer slightly more hoppiness, especially in an Imperial IPA.” cat2rating=”3.5″ cat3title=”Taste” cat3detail=”The taste begins with a sweet maltiness, lending hints of caramel, honey and biscuits. The maltiness is not as toasty as the 60 minute IPA, despite this one also containing the relatively toasty flavoured Amber malt. The hop flavours are surprisingly muted, with only the slightest hints of tropical fruits (primarily pineapple), resin and citrus (grapefruit). The finish is also sweet and only mildly bitter. Am I really drinking an Imperial IPA? This tastes more like a(n Imperial) Red Ale. I like malty IPAs, but this was way too sweet and malt-dominated even for me.” cat3rating=”3″ cat4title=”Mouthfeel” cat4detail=”The beer has a moderately full body and moderate carbonation level. The sweetness really pulls down on the drinkability, and this wouldn’t be my first choice for a thirst-quencher a warm day like this. The flavours stay in the mouth for a long while though.” cat4rating=”3.5″ summary=”Again I was quite disappointed, as this was way too sweet and had way too little hop flavours and bitterness for my taste. I feel the beer would be more balanced if the bitterness level was cranked up slightly more. Maybe even 4 months is too long for a beer like this? Perhaps I would prefer Dogfish Head’s darker beers more?”]

Homebrew: New Year IPA

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Tomorrow it’s time for the last brewday of the year. We will be trying to get rid of some opened packages of 2012 hops, so the obvious choice for beer style is an Imperial IPA. We will be using our classic malt bill, with Pale Ale, Munich, Carapils and Crystal malt, coupled with a slight amount of cane sugar to dry out the beer since we’ll be using a low-attenuating yeast strain. For hops, we will be using our standard bittering hop Herkules, while for flavour and aroma we will be using Amarillo, Galaxy, Nelson Sauvin and Simcoe. We are aiming for 100+ theoretical IBUs. I like the use of English yeast strains in hop-forward beers, since they lend a slightly fruitiness that often complements the hoppiness. Since I have some Wyeast 1318 English Ale III slurry from a previous fermentation, we will be using it for this beer. Hoping to reach an FG of around 1.013-1.015 and an ABV of around 8.5-9%.

[beerxml recipe=http://beer.suregork.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/new_year_dipa.xml metric=true cache=-1]

Double Brewday: Imperial IPA and Ginger-Lemon Mead

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Today we brewed up one batch of beer and one of mead. This is the first time I try making mead, i.e. honey wine, and I must say that the pre-fermentation must was tasting promising! The beer is an Imperial IPA (though more in IPA territory, as the efficiency was slightly lower than predicted) inspired by The Alchemist’s Heady Topper. We used a malt bill consisting of Pearl malt, Carahell and Wheat malt, supplemented with some cane sugar during the boil to further dry out the beer. We hopped it with enormous amounts of Amarillo, Apollo (first time using it, smelling awesome!), Centennial, Columbus and Simcoe. Oh, and we also used 15 ml of Hop Extract for bittering (theoretical IBU yield of around 120). After fermentation we will throw in even more hops for dry-hopping. The beer will be fermented with Conan, which I harvested from a can in the beginning of this year and has been on an agar plate since. The starter was smelling very peachy and fruity, so it should bring some nice tones to the game. Can’t wait to try it out! The brewday went quite well, but we ended up with 22 liters of 1.065 wort instead of 20 liters of 1.072 wort, so the beer will have slightly lower ABV than intended.

[beerxml recipe=http://beer.suregork.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/heady_topper.xml metric=true cache=-1]

For the mead we used a simple recipe of 10 liters of water, 3.2 kg of honey (various sorts), 0.5 kg of brown sugar, 100 g ginger, 2 lemons and one small pack of raisins. We allowed the water to come to boil, and we added in 3 g of yeast nutrient, the raisins, the sugar and the ginger. After a couple of minutes we added in the lemons and the honey, and allowed it to cool. We then pitched some white wine yeast and placed to ferment at 18C. The OG was 1.095, which will result in 10-14% ABV depending on when the yeast decides to quit. I wouldn’t mind a slightly sweet mead. Can’t wait to try it in a couple of weeks/months. During the day we also had time to keg and bottle our recent Black Rye IPA, which was tasting quite promising. There was quite alot of suspended yeast still, but otherwise the flavor was bitter, lightly roasted and hoppy. Gravity had fallen to 1.015, giving an ABV of 6.4%. Should be a really nice beer for the cold autumn evenings.

[beerxml recipe=http://beer.suregork.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/mead.xml metric=true cache=-1]

Homebrew: Tasting a 15-month old Imperial IPA

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In June 2012 I brewed up an Imperial IPA that was loaded with 500 grams of hops in a 20 liter batch. I never made a ‘proper’ review or tasting notes of the beer, but published some short ones right after the beer was kegged and bottled. Overall I was quite happy with the beer, as it featured a strong bitterness, loads of hop aroma (especially when fresh), some nice resiny hop flavors, and a slightly sweet maltiness to balance it all up. The beer was a little grassy and ‘raw’ though, and when we are brewing an IIPA next week (recipe will follow soon), we will replace some of the hops with hop extract to hopefully reduce the amount of grassiness in the end product. Anyways, I found a couple of bottles of this homebrewed IIPA (at least I think it is, as the bottles have no labels or text, just a golden bottle cap) stored away in a closet (we are currently moving, and have been cleaning and packing up everything). I though it would be interesting to try how this one has held up. The general consensus is that IPAs should be drank fresh, and I mostly concur with this statement, however some of the sweeter IIPAs can get really nice with some age in my opinion. This doesn’t mean that I purposely age (I)IPAs, but if I find a bottle that has been forgotten in the fridge/closet for several months I still tend to enjoy them. Hop aroma, flavor and bitterness tend to fade with age, while malty sweetness tends to strengthen. This beer has been stored in quite poor conditions, as the temperature of our old apartment has been quite high (especially during the summers), so my expectations are not that high. Anyways, lets see how it tastes! Oh, and sorry about the picture below. Since we’ve just moved, I’m trying to find a new setting for taking beer pictures. The table and wall combination here results in pictures slightly red-tinted and almost with a desaturated look. Will have to experiment a little.

  • Brewery: Sly Cat Brewery
  • Country: Finland
  • Style: Imperial India Pale Ale
  • ABV: 7.7 %
  • Size: 500 ml
  • Bought from: –
  • Not on Beer Advocate
  • Not on RateBeer

[easyreview title=”Sly Cat CatnIPA – Imperial IPA” cat1title=”Appearance” cat1detail=”The beer pours with a really murky orange-amber color, and a slight oily off-white head is formed that collapses rather quickly. The beer was crystal clear when I looked through the bottle when I found it in the closet, but 24 hours in the fridge resulted in lots of chill haze that didn’t have time to settle. Very heavily dry-hopped beers tend to have some dry-hop haze, so I guess it suits the style. It could look prettier though, but I’ve never cared that much about appearance. The appearance is similar to what I remember it fresh.” cat1rating=”3.5″ cat2title=”Smell” cat2detail=”The aroma is fairly sweet, with quite a large malt presence (caramel). There are hop tones left though, despite the 15-month age, and they are mostly floral and perfumey, with some citrus and resin in the background. Quite a nice aroma actually, but it steers more towards the American Barleywine category than the Imperial IPA category. A lot of hop aroma has been lost, but was is left is still a nice combination of sweet caramel and floral hop tones. Reminds me of many IIPAs I’ve consumed ‘old’ (e.g. Port Brewings 3rd Anniversary Ale and Alesmith’s Yulesmith Summer).” cat2rating=”4″ cat3title=”Taste” cat3detail=”The flavour is similar to the aroma, with an initial impact of caramelly sweetness, quickly followed by a mellow resiny hoppiness. These combine quite well, and also give off a Barleywine vibe. The finish is semi-sweet, moderately bitter, and features some warming alcohol, which strengthen this impression. Overall the flavors are not bad, but quite different to when the beer was fresh. The beer has changed alot during 15 months, but change in this case isn’t bad, as the beer has turned into a nice Barleywine. The dank, earthy and fruity hop flavors have definitely mellowed, and left are only the resiny and floral tones (myrcene- and linalool-derived perhaps?). What really makes me happy is that there are no signs of infection or other off-flavors, suggesting that my sanitary practices are good. I really like this, but if I tasted this blind I wouldn’t guess it was an IIPA, rather a Barleywine or American Strong Ale.” cat3rating=”4″ cat4title=”Mouthfeel” cat4detail=”The beer has a medium-full body and a medium-low carbonation level. Not a thrist-quencher for the heat, but really fits nicely as a slow-sipper a rainy autumn day like today.” cat4rating=”3.5″ summary=”Overall, this beer has aged poorly as a IIPA, but quite nicely as an American Barleywine. The huge hoppiness that was present in the fresh beer has faded, but left is a nice caramelly maltiness together with a mellow floral and resiny hoppiness. We will be brewing a new IIPA next week, and this time I will tweak the recipe for a slightly drier finish. This time around I will try to drink them all while they are still fresh. “]

Southern Tier Un*Earthly

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  • Brewery: Southern Tier Brewing Company
  • Country: USA
  • Style: Imperial IPA
  • ABV: 9.5 %
  • Size: 650 ml
  • Bought from: Online
  • Beer Advocate
  • RateBeer

To celebrate the start of my short winter holiday I thought I’d try another beer that has been in my refrigerator for way too long. Un*Earthly is an Imperial IPA by the New York-based brewery Southern Tier. I have previously tried a couple of Southern Tier beers, one being Gemini, which is a blend of this beer and their Hoppe. I really liked the blend, so am guessing this beer should be great as well. It has been brewed with pale ale malt, carapils and red wheat, and hopped with chinook, cascade, styrian goldings, and centennial to a calculated IBU of 153. Sounds promising, but hopefully there is some hop punch in it still and I haven’t waited too long to try it.

[easyreview title=”Southern Tier Un*Earthly” cat1title=”Appearance” cat1detail=”The beer pours crystal-clear with an amber-orange color. A really minimal off-white head is formed, that remains as a ring on top of the beer the entire drinking session. The surface is oily and a slight amount of lacing clings on the glass as the beer level decreases in the glass. Could have used some more head for a better appearance.” cat1rating=”3.5″ cat2title=”Smell” cat2detail=”The aroma is mainly a blend of citrusy and resiny hoppiness and a sweet caramelly maltiness. There are some floral and candied fruit tones present as well. The aroma could be stronger, but I guess the beer isn’t super fresh.” cat2rating=”3.5″ cat3title=”Taste” cat3detail=”There are some caramel and sweet biscuit tones in the beginning as the beer enters the mouth, but these are quickly overtaken by a floral, grapefruit-like, piney, resiny and earthy hoppiness, that linger in the mouth for a long time. The finish is quite sweet, almost barleywine-like, and there is a moderate hop bitterness present. Could have used a bit more hop flavors and a little less maltiness, but this might be because the bottle isn’t fresh.” cat3rating=”3.5″ cat4title=”Mouthfeel” cat4detail=”The body is full and the carbonation level is medium-low. Together with the sweetness and the bitterness, it makes the beer a bit difficult to drink, and it definitely is a slow sipper. The beer feels smooth in the mouth though.” cat4rating=”3.5″ summary=”Overall, this was quite a disappointment, even though the beer was quite tasty and enjoyable. I like malty (I)IPAs, but this was a bit too sweet even for my taste. The FG of this beer is around 1.020, so it was most likely quite sweet even when fresher. The hop flavor is quite subdued, so I guess this could up to a year old. There are definitely better (I)IPAs available on the market, but don’t be afraid to try Southern Tier’s IPA currently available at the Arkadia Alko!”]

Amager Rated XxX

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  • Brewery: Amager Bryghus
  • Country: Denmark
  • Style: Imperial IPA
  • ABV: 9.0 %
  • Size: 500 ml
  • Bought from: Barley Wine, Copenhagen
  • Beer Advocate
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After beginning the evening with an IPA hopped with 10 different hop varieties, its time to up the odds with an Imperial IPA hopped with 30 different hop varieties. Yes, you read that right, 30 different hop varieties. I have no idea what these 30 varieties are, but I assume they have put in every common hop variety around. After the previous muddled mess I’m expecting the worst. I have no information on any other ingredients either, so will have to see how it does! This bottle was from batch #364, which I think was brewed in June this year as the best before date is 06/2013, so the beer should be around 5 months old (hopefully that, and not 17 months old). Let’s see how it does!

[easyreview title=”Amager Rated XxX” cat1title=”Appearance” cat1detail=”The beer pours with a hazy amber-orange color (slightly darker than the previous Mikkeller 10), and minimal off-white colored head. The surface is oily and the beer leaves minimal patches of lacing along the glass as the surface falls. Not very good looking at least.” cat1rating=”2.5″ cat2title=”Smell” cat2detail=”The aroma is a strange blend of tropical fruits and herbs, which is backed up by some slight caramel and resiny tones. The aroma is a little on the weak side, but the little that is there is quite pleasant, though a bit hard to pinpoint.” cat2rating=”3.5″ cat3title=”Taste” cat3detail=”The flavor begins with a caramelly maltiness, but before you know it, your taste buds have been attacked by a massive, but muddled, hoppiness. I’m able to pick out some citrus, tropical fruits, resin, berries and herbal tones, but there is a bit too much going on to get a clear picture. The finish is semi-dry and features a huge, dank and mouth-drying bitterness. Balance is definitely towards the hoppy and bitter side, but the maltiness is still there to back it up. Its a shame the hop flavors are as muddled as they are, as otherwise this would be a very nice beer. I love the huge bitterness, coupled with the caramelly sweetness and hoppy flavors. You feel some alcohol as the beer warms up.” cat3rating=”4″ cat4title=”Mouthfeel” cat4detail=”The beer has a medium-full body and medium-low carbonation level. The beer feels a bit oily in the mouth, and the bitterness is a bit harsh. A slow sipper.” cat4rating=”3″ cat5title=”Overall” cat5detail=”I liked this slightly more than Mikkeller 10, mostly because the stronger hop flavors and bitterness levels. The hop profile was very muddled again though, and its a shame this didn’t contain a tenth of the hop varieties. The crazy bitterness can probably be off-putting to some, but I felt the maltiness and hop flavors managed to keep it on par. These were some interesting experiments, but there is a reason why brewers usually choose to use only a couple of different hop varieties in their brews.” cat5rating=”3.5″ overall=false]

Lagunitas Maximus

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  • Brewery: Lagunitas Brewing Company
  • Country: USA
  • Style: Imperial IPA
  • ABV: 8.2 %
  • Size: 355 ml
  • Bought from: Barley Wine, Copenhagen
  • Beer Advocate
  • RateBeer

 

After a week of fermentations and analysing wort (I love my job!), I thought it would be nice to sit down and relax with a nice and hoppy IPA. This is one of the beers I brought home from my trip to Copenhagen in August. I’ve heard lots of good stuff about Lagunitas before, but have never had a chance to try them, so am looking forward to this. This seems to be categorized as an Imperial IPA on the various beer sites online, but the bottle claims the beer is only 59 IBU, so I am skeptical. I have no information on the ingredients used, so I have no idea what to expect. The bottle states that the original gravity was 1.080, which gives a final gravity of around 1.017-1.018 with the ABV of 8.2%. Not too dry, and definitely in my ballpark. Let’s see how this tastes! Unfortunately there are no freshness indicators on this, so I have no clue how old this bottle is.

[easyreview title=”Lagunitas Maximus” cat1title=”Appearance” cat1detail=”The beer pours clear and with an orange-amber color. There was no yeast sediment in the bottle, so guess the beer has been filtered. A minimal off-white head is formed, that disappears as fast as it appeared.” cat1rating=”3″ cat2title=”Smell” cat2detail=”As I open the bottle I can feel some hop aroma reach my nose. The actual beer features a strong orange and tangerine hop aroma, with some tones of apricots, tropical fruits, resin and sweet caramel in the background as well. I’ve never actually come across a beer with this kind of aroma before (i.e. this strong of an orange aroma). Interesting, but not among my favorites.” cat2rating=”3.5″ cat3title=”Taste” cat3detail=”The flavor begins with a sweet, caramelly, bready maltiness, that together with the hop tones of citrus (orange in the lead again, with some lemon and tangerine) reminds me of some citrus candy drops. You can find some grassy and herbal tones in the hoppiness as well, but they are quite subdued. The flavor ends with a sweet and only slightly bitter finish. I felt this was really imbalanced, and way too sweet to be fully enjoyable. This would also have need lots more bitterness to back up the sweetness. Again an interesting flavor, but definitely not amongst my favorites, especially with the poor balance.” cat3rating=”3″ cat4title=”Mouthfeel” cat4detail=”The beer has a medium-full body and a medium carbonation level. The sweetness makes this a bit difficult to drink. At least the alcohol is well hidden.” cat4rating=”3″ summary=”Definitely disappointed with this one, as I feel this would have been so much better with some more bitterness and a slightly drier finish. The beer featured some interesting hop tones in the aroma and flavor, mostly focusing on orange and tangerine. I have no idea what hops Lagunitas have used, but maybe it could be Summit hops? I will have to give Lagunitas another chance if I see any of their other beers in the future, but this beer was at least no to my taste.”]

Hoppin Frog Mean Manalishi

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  • Brewery: Hoppin Frog Brewery
  • Country: USA
  • Style: Imperial IPA
  • ABV: 8.2 %
  • Size: 650 ml
  • Bought from: Online
  • Beer Advocate
  • RateBeer

 

I have had a bottle of Hoppin Frog’s Mean Manalishi Imperial IPA in the refrigerator for a couple of months waiting for the right time to drink it. Today I thought I’d finally try it, to make some room in the fridge. Have not tried many beers from Hoppin Frog (only the barrel-aged B.O.R.I.S.), but have heard some good things about them. Couldn’t find any official information on ingredients, but some web pages list Columbus and Summit as the hops used. This IPA features a massive theoretical IBU of 168 and it has apparently had an OG of 1.084, which means that the FG should be around 1.021 as the beer is 8.2% ABV. Hopefully the beer isn’t too sweet and still packs a hoppy punch!

[easyreview title=”Hoppin Frog Mean Manalishi” cat1title=”Appearance” cat1detail=”The beer pours with a slightly hazy amber-copper color, and a slight off-white head is formed, that collapses quickly and leaves some lacing along the glass. The surface is a bit oily as well.” cat1rating=”4″ cat2title=”Smell” cat2detail=”The aroma features a combination of hop tones and caramel. The hop tones bring to mind resin, tangerine, citrus and herbs, and overall the aroma is earthy and dank.” cat2rating=”4″ cat3title=”Taste” cat3detail=”The flavor begins with a caramelly maltiness, but it is quickly overtaken by a resiny, dank and floral hoppiness, featuring tones of grapefruit, tangerine and pine. As the hop flavors die down, a strong bitterness enters that lingers with the semi-dry finish. Really nice flavors! The flavors are well balanced and the bitterness is backed up by a strong malt backbone.” cat3rating=”5″ cat4title=”Mouthfeel” cat4detail=”The beer has a medium-full body and a medium-low carbonation level. The beer is easy to drink, even with the strong flavors.” cat4rating=”4″ summary=”Overall, a very nice beer, with tons of dank resiny hoppiness and a strong bitterness. The caramelly malt backbone makes sure that the beer is easy to drink and well balanced. Not sure about the freshness of the bottle, but it is most likely at least 6 months old. Even with this age, the beer had great hop aroma and flavor. Looking forward to trying more Hoppin Frog beers in the future! “]

Homebrew: Imperial IPA (Catnipa) -Bottling and tasting

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Today I bottled the keg of my latest Imperial IPA, aka Catnipa. Pia has again designed a nice label for the beer. The beer pours with a slight hazy amber color, and a slight off-white head is formed, that collapses quite quickly, leaving some lacing along the glass and an oily surface. The aroma is very hop-dominated, with dank tones of resin, citrus (grapefruit), and tropical fruits (pineapple and mango). There is some caramel behind the hops as well. The flavor begins with some caramel, but is quickly overtaken by a dank, resiny, piney, citrusy and earthy hoppiness, that clings on until the semi-dry and bitter finish. I’m quite happy with how this one turned out, as it is packed lots of hoppy goodness. Surprisingly drinkable for such a bitter and quite strong (with regards to ABV) beer. Hopefully this improves further with some time in the bottle, and hopefully the aroma stays for a while as well.

Homebrew: First sampling of the Imperial IPA

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My latest Imperial IPA has been in the keg for a week at 0.8 bar CO2 and 1 degree C, so today I poured up the first taste sample. As I was expecting, the beer was only partially carbonated (it usually takes me at least two weeks with the ‘set-and-forget’ method to reach proper carbonation levels), and it poured really murky with almost no head (I poured with low pressure from the keg, so that also explains the non-existing head). I’m positive the beer will clear up after I’ve poured the first few pints, as these usually contain the yeast and other sedimented particles from the bottom of the keg, and also form a much bigger and retentive head, as the beer gets more carbonation and a more vigorous pour. This beer is heavily hopped (both in the kettle and dry-hopped), so that naturally makes it murkier, and right now the appearance reminded me a bit of that of Alchemist’s Heady Topper. Well enough about the appearance, lets go to how it smelled and tasted.

Even though the carbonation level was low, the beer had a great and strong aroma, featuring dank, resiny, grapefruity, citrusy and earthy hop tones. These will hopefully still be amplified with more carbonation and by resting on the keg hops for another week. The flavor was also nice, though not perfect at the moment, as the beer felt a little ‘green’ still (muddled flavors, bland mouthfeel from low carbonation, slight yeast tones). This is not surprising though, as it has only been a week in the keg. The flavor featured some initial caramelly maltiness, which was overtook by resiny, dank, citrusy and earthy hop tones, that lingered long with the dry and bitter finish. I have high expectations for this, and I think that in a couple of weeks this will be fantastic.