Horsepower
Aviator Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pours a slightly hazed amber producing a huge 4+ finger, billowy, beige head that recedes to a beautiful half inch tall, fifty cents sized, shaving cream frothy island cap, leaving a coating of ring-like sticky lacing. Aroma citrusy & herbal hops, orange marmalade backed by bready & sweet caramel malts. Taste is citrus & floral hoppiness. Oily with orange zest. Malt is cane syrup, caramel & faint grain notes. Nice balance between sweet & bitter. Bitterness dominates the finish & intensifies in a chalky aftertaste. Mouthfeel is medium-heavy bodied, mouth coating, oily & slick on the tongue with a light prickliness. Deeply astringent. An interesting brew I would gladly purchase again.

 

 

 

Darker than I'd like (more orange than yellow)

Smells a little too sweet, but otherwise hoppy, tropical, and full.

Taste was just whelming, with a little too much deep hop flavor without the necessary balance to make this a smoother, better drinking beer.

Feel was just right.

 

 

 

Poured on-tap at the Tap House and served in a shaker pint, the beer is a golden-brown coloring with a filmy, dense, clingy white head. Nose of caramel, biscuit, toffee, and tropical fruit. Flavors are malt forward, with toffee, caramel, and honey, with a solid peppery hopped backbone. Smooth, robust bodied, with a building hops character into the aftertaste. Rich, tangy, lingering finish.

 

 

On tap at Sam's in Durham into a pint a glass.

First off this is now 9.1% ABV and has a new brewmaster behind it (i was talking to the guy who brewed it while I was there.) Extremely limited at the moment, only a handful kegs were produced.

It pours a dark copper color with a nice looking head; a tad bit darker than most other IPAs. The smell is BIG with citrus hops and malts dominating your nose. It reminds me a lot of the way Pliny smells honestly. The taste is extremely balanced, wow. It's definitely got a big citrus and orange flavor but it's not dominated by hops or malts either way. First time I can say that for a NC DIPA. Medium bodied with medium carbonation. While drinking I wouldnt think of this as a big beer , the ABV is well hidden.

Overall an excellent DIPA and the best one I've had out of NC to date. Unfortunately not bottled, because I'd love to pick some of this up.

Pours a deep clear warm brown with a hint of red. Temp 55-60F. Thin white head that dissipates with some lacing. Aroma is of malt and floral hop notes, but not overly persistent. Taste of tropical notes up front, a bit of mango which evolves into grapefruit and pine and a lingering dry bitterness that persists between sips. Strong malt backbone, but not overly sweet. Somewhat more in the style of a barleywine than a DIPA in my opinion. Alcohol is a bit dry, warming, listed as 8% on brewery website; 10.2% here. Enjoyable, not overly aromatic, but very strong bittering hop characteristics. More aromatic hop notes to balance out the malt would be a plus.