Armageddon IPA
Epic Brewing Company

Armageddon IPAArmageddon IPA
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From:
Epic Brewing Company
 
New Zealand
Style:
American IPA
Ranked #896
ABV:
6.66%
Score:
90
Ranked #10,296
Avg:
4.01 | pDev: 11.97%
Reviews:
117
Ratings:
261
Status:
Active
Rated:
Nov 11, 2023
Added:
Aug 16, 2009
Wants:
  27
Gots:
  15
In the beginning, there was nothing. Then an impish brewer piled a ludicrous amount of hops into a batch of beer. This zymurgical big bang is Epic Armageddon, an apocalyptic assault on your preconceptions and taste buds. It may be too huge for this fragile planet so enjoy this beer like it was the last one on Earth.
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Rated: 4 by hockeypuck from Maine

Nov 11, 2023
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Reviewed by Jugs_McGhee from Colorado

3.17/5  rDev -20.9%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.25
$14 NZD per 425ml on-draught @ Vultures Lane, Auckland.

Clear vibrant copper body colour. ~1cm head height; white in colour.

Hop profile is assertive enough but buoyed by honeyed pale malt sweetness. Floral. Not really citrusy or distinctly fruity. Resinous and coating. Not piney, grassy, tropical, sappy, oily, or oniony.

I guess I figured there'd be more hop pungency/depth of hop flavour in this. Centennial hops aren't well employed given the absence of pine, but they do help contribute floral hop flavour alongside the more prominent Cascade hop flavour. Columbus is in there too, but I'm not clear on what Simcoe is meant to bring to the table; this isn't oniony, yogurty, or otherwise recognizably Simcoe redolent.

Smooth, approachable, wet. Well carbonated.

It's a likable enough IPA, but doesn't dazzle.

C+ / ABOVE AVERAGE
Mar 12, 2023
 
Rated: 4.17 by RMW66 from Australia

Aug 24, 2019
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Reviewed by JustCamIt from Virginia

2.47/5  rDev -38.4%
look: 2 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.25 | feel: 2.25 | overall: 2.5
A: scant bubbles, moderate head with low retention, color of dark brownish gold

S: piney, orange zest, turbindo sugar, vanilla

T: initial shock of cane sugar followed by resinous hops then canned fruit cocktail ending with more hops

M: medium dry

O: okay for infrequent imbibing but I was put off by the strange artificial-like fruity taste
Nov 22, 2018
Photo of Beginner2
Reviewed by Beginner2 from Illinois

3.66/5  rDev -8.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
Had fresh in Auckland.
An attractive Looking AIPA, amber and orangish with a nice head. Smells give me mostly bitter hops with malt backbone.
Tastes are not for me: too piney and bitter... but that is just me with those type and amount of hops. (I'm told 60 IBU... and my tastebuds break out into a sweat at about 50.)

With the label touting it as "The Answer To Everything", Armageddon IPA overstates its case... along with its hops.
But, I also can understand why hop-heads rate this highly: it seems a well-constructed ale.

Armageddon IPA is reviewed at length in Roger Protz' "300 More Beers To Try Before You Die!" You will appreciate this beer and its innovative team much more if you can read that article. They are very serious about brewing right.
Jan 01, 2018
Photo of Hopheadjeffery
Reviewed by Hopheadjeffery from Illinois

3.52/5  rDev -12.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Tasted in a Spiegelau IPA glass from a 12 fl oz bottle on November 6, 2017. A malt forward IPA. Not bad, not great, just an average beer. Glad I tried it, but I probably will not have it again.
Nov 08, 2017
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Reviewed by Everydayoff from Thailand

4.21/5  rDev +5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
330ml bottle poured into a teku glass.

Hazy orange amber color, it tops with massive silky white head that stands with great retention before slowly subsiding to an everlasting frothy crown covering atop and leaving lots of lacing patch and spot here and there, high visible carbonation.

The aroma is bursting with solid hoppy goodness with wide varieties of note ranging from citrus, grapefruit, lime, lemon rind, melon, herbal, floral, spice, pine, resin, grassy, and earthy. Malt is also there in the undertone with its biscuit and sweet caramel.

The taste is rich and intense with the hoppy affair of strong piney resin, spice, herbal, earthy, grassy, as well as fruitiness ranging from citrus, grapefruit, lime, lemon rind, and melon together with persistent bitterness. Malt lays as a base of the flavor structure with notes of sweet, biscuit, and caramel. The aftertaste is long-lasting with grassy and resiny hop bitterness.

Medium to rather full body with some bold touch and some good crisp yet moderate lively carbonation through the palate, the mouthfeel is smooth with a refreshing touch and dry finish.

6.66% ABV, it is the number of evil making this IPA so intense with hop and deceivingly tasty like an evil.
Mar 03, 2017
 
Rated: 3.97 by dcotom from Iowa

Jan 14, 2017
 
Rated: 4.02 by SlightlyGrey from Minnesota

Nov 03, 2016
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Reviewed by mtomlins from Canada (ON)

3.9/5  rDev -2.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Big thanks to my down unda bratha for hand delivering this beast. A really tasty IPA, big, bo.d and brash. Huge bittering hop profile with maybe a bit to big of a malt backbone.
Aug 01, 2016
Photo of rodbeermunch
Reviewed by rodbeermunch from Nevada

4.06/5  rDev +1.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Comes in an amber color that is warm, greeting. The lighter end of the amber spectrum. Aroma was probably the best international aroma/dry hop I've come across. And its been that way for years. I don't know if these are down under hops or new world varietals, but they are plenty juicy and funky.

The format is unfortunate. What can you do its halfway around the world. I imagine this would be very popular if it were produced locally and in 4/6 packs. It takes all the good things hop wise on the west coast and drops what I suspect to be a New Zealand hop product. Or a blend thereof. Fantastic stuff though, its only downside is the price and format. The malt is complimentary, not overly sweet or caramel heavy. Just the right amount.
May 30, 2016
 
Rated: 3.74 by chrismattlin from Ohio

May 26, 2016
 
Rated: 2 by Nichols33 from Massachusetts

May 08, 2016
 
Rated: 4.34 by jjdunce from Australia

Apr 02, 2016
 
Rated: 3.79 by Waggman from Sweden

Jan 15, 2016
 
Rated: 4.25 by Beernoobie from California

Dec 28, 2015
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Reviewed by Chico1985 from Massachusetts

4.28/5  rDev +6.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Loved their Hop Zombie DIPA last year, siked to review some more hoppy goodness from this brewery, quite a fresh bottle at that. New 330ml format.

A - Pint pour is dark orange almost leaning towards reddish. Nice clarity with slow-rising bubbles. An off-white head starts at a couple fingers. A mostly full cap an thick ring remain at the end, with sporadic lace dots spread about.

S - Very nice melon, pine, pineapple, mango, and some sugar cookie sweetness. Gets a bit more weedy over time.

T - Lots of tropical fruit flavor coming through here with pine getting pushed to the background a bit, some floral mixing in here too. Sugar cookie malt is a bit stronger here, definitely some unabashed malt flavor going on here, but it meshes pretty well.

M - Quite a light feel with highish carbonation and medium bitterness. Nice mix of hop and malt flavor, extremely drinkable and impressively clean flavor.

O - Really nice tropical fruit hop/sugar cookie malt balancing act, almost comes off as a hoppy amber, reminds me of a mini-Nugget Nectar kinda, though the malt might be a bit overpowering on the whole. Still, an IPA worth celebrating Armageddon with, and the cleanness is really nice with so many IPAs looking like pulpy OJ nowadays. Wish it still came in 500ml as 330 goes all too quickly.
Dec 20, 2015
 
Rated: 3 by ThisSeasonsWaifu from Sweden

Oct 17, 2015
 
Rated: 3.93 by Dhamma73 from Massachusetts

Jun 02, 2015
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Rated by AndreasDif

3.15/5  rDev -21.4%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.25
Fresh and tasty, maybe have travelled a little far before tasting
Jun 01, 2015
Armageddon IPA from Epic Brewing Company
Beer rating: 90 out of 100 with 261 ratings