The Brewery: Sierra Nevada (Chico, CA)
The Brew: Imperial IPA
Availability: Draft and bottles
ABV: 10.4% // IBU: 100
Rating: 8.5/10
Location: Home
The Story? Sierra Nevada's lauded Beer Camp were tasked with the challenge of pushing the extremes of whole-cone hopping. The result is a dank, bitter, but compellingly dignified monster of an Imperial IPA.
The Beer? Sweet with a VERY dry finish. Almost cotton mouth dry. Glowing copper color, punctuated by a fluffy, staying head. Bitter citrus and some tropical fruits are present, but not in a juicy way. Citrus rind is more like it. The intensity of the whole-cone, dry, torpedoed hop experience completely masks the over 10% ABV, which I was not aware of before popping into this, (whoops!).
As exceptional as this brew is, I often wonder where all this over-hopping is taking us. I've been a hop fan since day one of beer loving, as it was my gateway, but as I continue to diversify my pallet and am presented with these 90+ IBUs brews, event the best of the best become somewhere one-denominational by the end of the bottle.
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