Highboy
Independence Brewing Co.
- From:
- Independence Brewing Co.
- Texas, United States
- Style:
- Imperial IPA
Ranked #2,834 - ABV:
- 9%
- Score:
- 85
Ranked #28,613 - Avg:
- 3.75 | pDev: 9.87%
- Ratings:
- | reviews: 9
- Status:
- Active
- Rated:
- Sep 25, 2025
- Added:
- May 20, 2018
- Wants:
- 0
- Gots:
- 1
SCORE
85
Very Good
85
Very Good
A resinous and fully juiced beast of a beer that's been double dry-hopped with loads of late addition hops like Strata and Mosaic, Amarillo Lupomax, and souped up with a CO2 hop extract. This baby roars like a pre-1977 Ford F-250, AKA the Highboy. 100 IBUs.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Rated by ttoadee from Texas
3.44/5 rDev -8.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
3.44/5 rDev -8.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
RB transfer
Sep 25, 2025
Reviewed by Darkmagus82 from Texas
3.82/5 rDev +1.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
3.82/5 rDev +1.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
Poured from a can into a pint glass
Appearance – The beer pours a clear golden amber color with a one finger head of puffy white foam. The head has a decent level of retention, fading to leave some streaky lace on the sides of the glass.
Smell – The aroma of the brew is strong of a malty and bready smell mixed with some aromas of caramel and toffee. Along with these smells comes a decent showing of grapefruit hop as well as aa little bit of earth and hay.
Taste – The taste starts out with a bready and malty flavor that is matched by a bit of caramel and ever so light harvest fruit sweetness. There are flavors of grapefruit and pine hop upfront, both of which grow stronger as the taste advances. At the same time the sweetness fades a bit, all while some hay and floral hop come to the tongue. Throughout a light graininess and touch of toffee develop creating a rather well hopped and citrus heavy taste to linger on the tongue
Mouthfeel – The body of the brew is slightly more chewy and thick with a carbonation level that is average. For the style the feel is good and makes for a slow sipper.
Overall – A rather decent double. Not too citrus heavy, but well hopped and quite approachable.
Jun 24, 2022Appearance – The beer pours a clear golden amber color with a one finger head of puffy white foam. The head has a decent level of retention, fading to leave some streaky lace on the sides of the glass.
Smell – The aroma of the brew is strong of a malty and bready smell mixed with some aromas of caramel and toffee. Along with these smells comes a decent showing of grapefruit hop as well as aa little bit of earth and hay.
Taste – The taste starts out with a bready and malty flavor that is matched by a bit of caramel and ever so light harvest fruit sweetness. There are flavors of grapefruit and pine hop upfront, both of which grow stronger as the taste advances. At the same time the sweetness fades a bit, all while some hay and floral hop come to the tongue. Throughout a light graininess and touch of toffee develop creating a rather well hopped and citrus heavy taste to linger on the tongue
Mouthfeel – The body of the brew is slightly more chewy and thick with a carbonation level that is average. For the style the feel is good and makes for a slow sipper.
Overall – A rather decent double. Not too citrus heavy, but well hopped and quite approachable.
Reviewed by AlCaponeJunior from Texas
4.21/5 rDev +12.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.21/5 rDev +12.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
A real treat and one of my new favorites.
Pours real nice, amber with a good head and lace.
A little skunky in a nostalgic kinda way, with a thick, chewey hoppiness. And if that doesn't make sense, blame the well hidden alcohol.
Either way, if you like thick chewy IPAs, grab a sixer of this.
Mar 25, 2022Pours real nice, amber with a good head and lace.
A little skunky in a nostalgic kinda way, with a thick, chewey hoppiness. And if that doesn't make sense, blame the well hidden alcohol.
Either way, if you like thick chewy IPAs, grab a sixer of this.
Reviewed by CodyBasden from Texas
3.46/5 rDev -7.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.25
3.46/5 rDev -7.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.25
Beautiful dark amber with fuzzy off white head with a lot of retention and lacing, very light citrus smell with a little skunk smell, high bitterness with a taste of roasted barley alil raisins taste that sits, light body low carbonation
Oct 26, 2019
Reviewed by Dope from Massachusetts
3.7/5 rDev -1.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3
3.7/5 rDev -1.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3
02/15/19 canning date
A: Pours an opaque orange. Just like orange juice. Tall frothy off-white head. Excellent head retention and lacing, both.
S: Loaded with tropical fruits. Mango, tangerine, oranges. Citrusy in general.
T: Yowza. Huge amount of tropical hops. Honestly, maybe too much. Huge juicy sweetness but very little bitterness. In fact, it turns bone-dry on the back end with a crackery malt and then just...Sahara-esque mouthfeel.
M: Medium bodied, smooth but very sweet and then very dry. HUGE contrast.
O: Interesting NE style DIPA. It basically tastes like a beer someone that's never had an NE IPA would make. It fits the description but it's just way too sweet, and then way too dry. Balance is all messed up. Not bad really, in fact it could be really good with some tweaking.
Sep 05, 2019A: Pours an opaque orange. Just like orange juice. Tall frothy off-white head. Excellent head retention and lacing, both.
S: Loaded with tropical fruits. Mango, tangerine, oranges. Citrusy in general.
T: Yowza. Huge amount of tropical hops. Honestly, maybe too much. Huge juicy sweetness but very little bitterness. In fact, it turns bone-dry on the back end with a crackery malt and then just...Sahara-esque mouthfeel.
M: Medium bodied, smooth but very sweet and then very dry. HUGE contrast.
O: Interesting NE style DIPA. It basically tastes like a beer someone that's never had an NE IPA would make. It fits the description but it's just way too sweet, and then way too dry. Balance is all messed up. Not bad really, in fact it could be really good with some tweaking.
Rated by Bryan12345 from Texas
4.5/5 rDev +20%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.5/5 rDev +20%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Malty, bitter, and boozy all at the same time. What more could you want?
Apr 19, 2019
Reviewed by jngrizzaffi from Texas
4.28/5 rDev +14.1%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.28/5 rDev +14.1%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Pours a very cloudy amber color with a thick foamy head. Head retention is very good. Lacing is excellent. Nice and foamy. Very aromatic. Juicy citrus and maybe some mild piney resin at the end. Taste is good. It still has a nice juicy citrus, good amount of piney resin and nice amount of bitterness. A little bit of dryness at the end. I think this beer should be rated higher than what it is. It is tasty. Medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Alcohol well hidden.
Apr 03, 2019
Reviewed by HotDogBikeRide from Texas
4.13/5 rDev +10.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
4.13/5 rDev +10.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
A good, big Texas IPA. Moderate malty backbone, a fair bit of hops - citrus, oily pine, some bitterness, a good buzz considering just one downed 16oz 8% can. Not much smell. Sticky lacing and a low wet/moreso sticky kinda drool after taste. Not bad man.
Sep 25, 2018
Reviewed by depechemode1983 from Texas
3.27/5 rDev -12.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
3.27/5 rDev -12.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
Medium honey in color. The head is off-white and seems to hold up pretty well. There a bit of lacing but not much.
A bit tropical but mostly piney bitterness. Maybe some semi sweet grapefruit if anything. This is very bitter forward.
Its seems to be balanced ok. This one is all about the piney hops. If anything the alcohol is well hidden.
Mouthfeel is ok. Bordering heavy with medium carbonation. A bit more carb wouldnt hurt.
Aug 22, 2018A bit tropical but mostly piney bitterness. Maybe some semi sweet grapefruit if anything. This is very bitter forward.
Its seems to be balanced ok. This one is all about the piney hops. If anything the alcohol is well hidden.
Mouthfeel is ok. Bordering heavy with medium carbonation. A bit more carb wouldnt hurt.
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