Bling Bling Imperial IPA
Bridge Road Brewers

Review is for the 2018 brew that came out sometime in June/July 2018.

I paid $40 for half a dozen so-called Imperial IPAs that promised five/five hops and 3.5/5 malt, according to the label. I wish I'd only bought a single one. This beer is a massive disappointment, and doesn't live up to my expectations from the description or other brews from Bridge Road. I like the single Bling, but the Bling Bling is a letdown.

It's a high alcohol beer and as such the beer will be expensive. But it doesn't taste like a resinous, hoppy challenge, it tastes like a viscous mess of muddy brown ale and vague medicinal bitterness. Nothing about the beer is sharp. It's big for the sake of being big and that's at the huge cost of lacking any particular charms or characteristics. It's like a failed sweet tripel or strong dark ale brew that they masked with tons of hops.

It comes from a legitimate brewery, but it's a departure from recent brews I've enjoyed. Bridge Road are hit and miss though, and this is a big miss. Disappointed I trusted the brewery to spend $40 on a six pack. That's crazy for a beer you don't love.

 

 

A - Deep amber body with about a finger and a half baige head that fades to very good lacing.
S - Pine, Passionfruit and mango, nice.
T - Deep hop bite to begin, although not massive, mostly malty sweetness with nice hop bitterness. Nice aftertaste too.
M - Low carbonation which takes away from this beer I think and makes it a bit syrupy. Light to Medium bodied.
O - Not too bad, I like theflavour profile that Bridge Road has put on the side of the bottle although it says its hop profile is off the scale but I've had more hop heavy beers. Overall this is a decent Imperial IPA but I would like it more if it had more carbonation.

 

Pours a hazy dark brown with a very fast fading white head. Nose is less imperial IPA than it is a brown or perhaps a strong ale in that its very malty but sort of faded or old malty.

Mouth feel is thick and bold with a heavy character. Not bad but very rich and mouth filling in al almost too big way.

Flavors are simply big malty and bitter pineapple with some chocolate undertones - sounds good but actually not all that appealing. Tastes a bit heavy and dull with a lack of character and no bright tones at all.

Pours an amberish brown. Has a bit of an odd smell for an imperial ipa. Not off putting but not typical. Lots of caramel notes in the taste and a thicker mouth feel. Tough to categorize as a typical imperial ipa but still a decent beer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

330ml bottle purchased from Oak Barrel in Sydney. Bottle dated 21/2/2013, so it's certainly far from being super-fresh.

Pours a pretty hazed and pretty dark amber hue, with a smooth, slightly fine head of off-white. Lace forms in stretchy streaks around the glass. The body is suitably heavy, and given it's only 8.2% it pretty much matches expectations. Carbonation is fine but latent. Looks pretty good.

Nose is definitely hoppy, but with a husky, vegetative quality to the hop character. Slight herbal tones, some grain-bran and an earthy, dusty character. Minimal malt sweetness, but with a touch of musk and a peppery overtone once you notice the musk. It's not bad.

Taste is similarly "not bad". Pretty smooth entry, with a rounded and solid malt basis that gives off a little booziness and some aromatic caramel and carob characters. The hops that come through later are strong, but a little generic: giving a straight resiny bitterness, but little nuanced flavours. These may have been a little better when it was fresher. Aftertaste has a pronounced buildup of hops, leaving an increasingly robust bitterness sip after sip.

Feel is based on the smoothness of the malt, but has influences from the boozy heat and the build up of resiny hops on the back.

Overall: this is solid stuff. To be honest, I don't think it's as good as the regular Bling, and it doesn't compensate for that by at least being a really proper huge DIPA. It's sort of in the middle: if it had have gone really stupidly big I would at least have been a little scared.

appearance:
pours a murkey dark amber with a thin, dense, head which to it's credit hung around :)

smell:
first impression: sweet, hoppy, fruity, wonderful aroma on opening, got me very excited about trying it. later came malt, pine.

taste:
predominantly malty, piney and sweet, there is a nice flavour somewhere in there but way too sweet on the way down for me to enjoy. Bitter aftertaste.

mouthfeel:
thick & under carbed which really accentuated the sweetness (or was the sweetness a symptom of under carbonation?), chewy, syrupy, unenjoyable.

overall
2.5/5 despite being well in the mood for beer, i didn't didn't really enjoy nor even finish my bottle. For the price a bit disappointed as the aroma is the most enjoyable thing about this beer for me. Fun bottle design and name that really jumps out at you, but might have been better applied to a more feisty beer than this.

 

A: Very murky light brown colour. No carbonation and no head.
S: Brown sugar and general sweetness. Small hint of pine.
T: Brown sugar syrup. Very sweet.
M: Chewy syrup. Is this terribly under attenuated?
O: Bridge Rd Brewers makes great beer but ekk... I'm guessing this is an old bottle that all of the hop flavour and aroma have dropped out of. In it's present state it's more like an American Barleywine.

Pours hazy dark amber with a large, fading head.
Lots of pine, grapefruit, caramel malt, booze and confectionery on the nose.
Pretty aggressive flavours, lots of pine and resinous hops along with a massive serving of sweet clean malt. Finishes with an assertive bitterness.
Body feels a bit too thick.