Ouroboros
The Alchemist

OuroborosOuroboros
Beer Geek Stats | Print Shelf Talker
From:
The Alchemist
 
Vermont, United States
Style:
Imperial IPA
Ranked #80
ABV:
8%
Score:
96
Ranked #808
Avg:
4.37 | pDev: 7.32%
Reviews:
41
Ratings:
196
Status:
Active
Rated:
Feb 16, 2023
Added:
Nov 30, 2013
Wants:
  96
Gots:
  15
An American Double IPA first brewed for 8/8/08. Plenty of hops are complimented by a large addition of Curacao orange peel.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
 
Rated: 4.42 by blaje from Canada (QC)

Feb 16, 2023
 
Rated: 3.34 by gbiello from Massachusetts

May 16, 2021
Photo of woodychandler
Reviewed by woodychandler from Pennsylvania

4.34/5  rDev -0.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
This beer & a couple of others were recently brought back & gifted (!) to me by someone who had been up that was & knew of my CANQuest (tm). I am deeply grateful for their generosity. Many, many thanks!

From the CAN: "Ouroboros American Double IPA"; "Ouroboros is an American Double IPA brewed with Curaçao orange peel and fresh orange zest."; "Originally brewed and released on 8.8.08."; "Certified B Corporation"; "100% Independent - Family Owned".

I Crack!ed open the vent & beCAN a slow, gentle C-Line Glug into the awaiting glass. It foamed beautifully to form two-plus fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, tawny head with very good retention, allowing me to take a pic & diddle around before falling. Color was a stupendous Golden-Amber (SRM = > 5, < 7) with NE-quality, enticing a visit from The Gelt Gang of Mammon, Midas & Croesus, all suppliCANts for a sip. Mouthfeel was medium, but a tad light for the style. No matter, since taste is the main CANcern. This tasted like orange CANdy, ranging from tangerine to orange to mandarin orange, plus a hint of vanilla to make me think of a Cremasicle/Dreamsicle. Mmm. Finish was semi-dry with a slightly bitter bite & a lingering presence of orange. Mmm. YMMV.
Jun 10, 2020
 
Rated: 4.94 by jacknyr08 from New York

May 31, 2020
 
Rated: 4 by pepesylvia from Pennsylvania

May 14, 2020
 
Rated: 4.35 by Simon212 from Canada (ON)

Apr 18, 2020
Photo of Lucular
Reviewed by Lucular from Maryland

4.01/5  rDev -8.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
16 oz can about 1.5 months old, poured into a tulip pint glass. Pours a clear yellow with an orangish tint and a medium white head. Aroma and flavor are citrus and some clean bitter pine and grassiness with a smooth caramel malt backbone. A solid old-school DIPA but nothing I'll feel the need to seek out again.
Apr 06, 2020
 
Rated: 5 by Oceanbear1 from Colorado

Apr 05, 2020
 
Rated: 4.25 by smcel371 from New York

Mar 15, 2020
 
Rated: 4.16 by Stofko1992 from Pennsylvania

Mar 14, 2020
Photo of PSanger
Reviewed by PSanger from Connecticut

4.56/5  rDev +4.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
I love this beer. Great citrusy flavor but not overpowering. This is not a unfiltered fruit fest. More so a delicious beer with well balanced and earthy tones. Love the orange look as well
Mar 13, 2020
 
Rated: 4.6 by jpd026 from New York

Mar 11, 2020
Photo of woemad
Reviewed by woemad from Washington

4.2/5  rDev -3.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4.25
16oz tallboy can courtesy of ovaltine. No idea when it was canned.

Big, creamy off-white head when poured, on top of a nice, semi-clear, dark golden amber colored beer. Things get a little chill-hazed after a couple minutes. Quite a lot of residue at the bottom. If I had another can, I might try decanting it, or at least leave a tiny bit in the can.

Light stone fruit aroma, with undercurrents of orange and whiff of grapefruit and sweat. Sweat seems to be often something my nose picks up from predominantly Mosaic hopped beers. As beertunes often says, YMMV.

The Mosaic hops give a bright stone fruit flavor up front, like peaches, with the orange peel, seemingly applied with much restraint, giving the beer an undercurrent of orangey citrus flavor. Light bitterness at the swallow. I'm not really picking up.anything that consciously reminds me of the Cascade hops. Really drinkable beer, with no sign of it's rather high abv percentage.

Medium bodied, with a slightly resiny mouthfeel that is.a little marred by the solid chunks of residue I'm spitting out as I get down towards the last of it.

A very tasty beer, only let down by the residue, which is probably due to my sitting on it too long as a possible share beer. It really goes down easy, with little of the tartness normally associated with additions of orange peel. I'd hit this regularly if available locally. Thanks, Mike!
Jun 23, 2019
Photo of hoptheology
Reviewed by hoptheology from California

4.33/5  rDev -0.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Ahhh ouroboros...it's viral.

Sent from egrandfield
no can date
Yakima Valley hops glass

Golden honey juice with a tall fluffy creamy head of 3 fingers with webby lacing up the sides.

Slight dank with a huge wave of juicy ripe melon and orange juice. Some tangerine. Lovely.

Flavor brings the juice hardcore. Lots of orange juice and white grapefruit juice, with hints of mango, blueberry, peach and papaya. Following is traditional Alchemist dank cannabis and pine, with slight eucalyptus, pepper, and onion.

Feel is creamy and juicy, and has a powerful carbonation. Some detectable alcohol and dryness.

Overall, a tasty and juicy IPA that still has the Alchemist harshness but is more enjoyable than some of their 'juiced' offerings. Good stuff.
Jun 15, 2019
Photo of amano_h
Reviewed by amano_h from Oregon

4.38/5  rDev +0.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Peach-like stone fruit, bright juicy oranges, green leaf herbs, and bitter grapefruit rinds compose the main aromatic components of this triple-eight beer. Give it some time and temperature and the aromatics all blend into a nice fruit cocktail like amalgamation, with a light honeyed grapefruit-like accentuation toward the back end. I suspect some of the sweetness is from the malt.

John Kimmich couldn't have said it better when he said that he wanted there to be a soft orange peel presence that joins the fray after the hops do their thang. The aforementioned fruit cocktail of stone fruit, oranges, herbs, and pink grapefruit pith inundate the palatal senses during the first few sips. As you slow down, however, there's a pleasant almost salty winter tangerine-like flavor that washes over the initial fruit onslaught; it's actually kind of hard to explain in precise detail, but whereas the drying sensation you get from hop-heavy brews are usually bitter, this one is kind of salty and acidic, kind of like the sticky citrus residue that remains on the lips while you're working your way through an entire net of cuties because you have no self-control.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Medium-light bodied with a creamy initial mouthfeel. I'm quite surprised to report that there's a substantial amount of stickiness that this brew leaves behind on your lips after consecutive sips--I can only liken it to the stickiness you feel on your fingers after peeling clementine after clementine, or the stickiness you usually feel when you inadvertently splash citrus juice on yourself while peeling or eating fresh citrus. Soft carbonation, with no discernible heat. This would be infinitely sessionable but-for it's 8% ABV rating.
May 12, 2019
 
Rated: 4.34 by Khaack from New York

Apr 23, 2019
Photo of Sabtos
Reviewed by Sabtos from Ohio

4.04/5  rDev -7.6%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Chill haze burnt gold with a tall foamy lumpy head slowly settling to a thin film and bubbly collar leaving mild lace.

Pine and dank eucalyptic cannabis accent pungent peach and grapefruit with a touch of toasted cracker via a medium-light body with a light but crisp carbonation finishing just dry.

Ouroboros features an old school bitterness with no off-notes at all. Not enough breweries are brave enough to do this right these days.
Apr 18, 2019
 
Rated: 4.3 by NolaHopHead from Louisiana

Mar 30, 2019
Photo of EMV
Reviewed by EMV from Pennsylvania

4.25/5  rDev -2.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Poured from a tallboy can into a Dogfish Head tulip

L: Cloudy golden pour with 2 fingers of fluffy white head. Great lacing... cloudiest beer I've seen from the Alchemist.

S: Orange citrus and pine.

T/F: Light malt base with a big bitter citrus hop profile. Orange and grapefruit... pine/evergreen and resin. Medium bodied.... oily on the tongue.

O: An outstanding unfiltered DIPA. It's not a juice bomb and it's not meant to be. More of an old school bitter hop bomb. Really liked this one.
Mar 25, 2019
Photo of FriedSlug
Reviewed by FriedSlug from North Carolina

4.31/5  rDev -1.4%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Unfiltered orange beer with a big, dense head. Tons of lacing left on the glass. The aroma is a big shot of orange and hops. Sort of citrusy and resiny. Tastes sweet for a second and that is quickly replaced with bitter orange and pine. Creamy mouthfeel. Excellent beer.
Mar 23, 2019
Ouroboros from The Alchemist
Beer rating: 96 out of 100 with 196 ratings