Rock Hopera Imperial IPA
Vino's Brewpub

I keep getting B-52s song in my head with this one. Oh well.
this is more of an imperial red or barley wine than IIPA, but I can live with it.

Dark red pour, almost brown. Lovely chunked up just-off-white head. Great lacing.

Hops in the nose. Citrus and pine fighting for dominance while the malt, light and roasty, lies in wait.

Up front, the roasted malt awakens. A bit light and fluffy, goes well into the next phase; pine and earthiness, a bit nutty. Hops take over from there providing bite and dryness. The slight malty leftovers come in the end.
Boozy, too. A bit tough to drink in the summer.

Draught @ Brewpub: This one poured an almost opaque light chocolate brown color. There was lots of a tan head on this one. The lady behind the counter had a hard time pouring the beer. The aroma was mainly pine hops with some citrus in there also. The taste was a bit more balanced, as the hop bite was not overpowering. Pine, citrus, caramel, as well as a hint of chocolate and roastiness to the taste. Nice.

This beer has a frothy, tan colored head that sits on top of a pretty dark for an IIPA, brown-amber colored beer. The aroma is quite sticky and sweet with an ample caramelized hop character; aromatic notes of candied ruby-red grapefruit zest, citrusy spruce tips, concentrated bergamot and a nose-tingling herbaceous pine note. This is very aromatically hoppy, but the sweet caramel malts play a huge role too.

The flavor seems to have a bit more caramelized grain character to it than overt sweetness, but that is here too; the malt seems to add a bit of a murky, toasted grain character that comes off as a bit muddled and confused. The hop character is a bit more dominant than the malt, and contributes flavors of grapefruit, candied orange, tangelo and ample lychee. The body of this beer is thick and chewy, so much so that this is definitely a sipping brew. There is lots of lingering hop bitterness to this beer as well as astringent hop flavors that contribute notes of pine and a menthol / herbal note.

This is a bit too malty for my tastes; it is way too focused on crystal malt flavors and is too thick and chewy (really almost a Barleywine in character). Hopheads who can get past the over-abundant crystal malt should find this enjoyable though.

Rich mahogany color with a thick tan head. The nose has a big kick of fruity hops balanced by a nice malt structure. The hops are really what powers this brew from start to finish, but there is always a fruity malt presence. Medium to full body is well carbonated. One of the better Double IPA's around.