Firebrand
Indigo Imp Brewery

 

 

A: A hazy, dull sunset orange coloring is topped off by a quick to dissipate dirty white head. The vessel is clean of lace. Inside, a moderately paced vision of spacious macro-effervesce.

S: The nose had some sweet peach juice, quickly upfront, followed by a fruitiness of fresh orange juice and pear juice. Some fresh green melon, semi-dry caramelized lemon and white grapes. There is a zesty, and bright spicy golden hoppiness. It seems this new spiegelau glass really does makes a difference in aromatic detection.

T: Flavor was fruity, peaches and juicy pear sub-hints. A sweet caramelized grain backing, crisp delivery of malts, spicy bright hops and white grapes. Tropical fruitiness of gauva, apple-citrusy notes followed by a warming of apple-pear alcohol on the close. Really nice depth of yeastiness, very clean, crisp fruitiness.

M: Mouthful was bready-caramel feel, malty, nice crackling of carbonation, really slick texture, thick and creamy depth.

O: Overall a nice range and yeasty complexity that was clean, crisp, and fruity. Spicy hops back this up with a very easy and likeable drinkability factor and easy recommend. Very smooth and easy to consume.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While Firebrand is almost amber in color, it actually leans on the yellow side. It is pretty thickly hazed. The off-white head is around one finger tall, shows some good retention, and leaves moderate to strong lacing behind.
In the aroma, I find floral hoppiness, a touch of earth, and light fleshy sweet notes of pear and green apple, which also bring with it a light tartness. It's not quite as spicy as I'd expect from a Belgian, but nice overall.
the flavor proffers a distinctive balance of hoppy and sweet with a touch of vinous character, very similar to white grapes, before a bigger herbal hops note comes in.
A medium-bodied beer, it's very crisp with a good flow and goes drier into the finish. The malts balancing the bitterness keep it semi-dry, but it's definitely moving in the direction of dryness the entire session.

 

 

 

12 oz.

Pours a hazy orange and brown. White sudsy lacing.

Smells of honey, citrus, coriander, tart apple and mild piney hop.

Very hoppy up front, pine and grapfruit, with some citrus tartness and a bit of caramel sweetness.

Full body with tingly carbonation on the roof of the mouth.

Much hoppier than most things you would call a Belgian IPA, more like an American IPA. Very good although not especially unique. Definitely worth trying for hop fans.

Poured into a stemmed tulip: translucent rusty amber under finger of head that drops quickly & leaves a wispy thin coating & a low collar. Nice-looking lacing.

Smells of overripe peach, Juicy Fruit gum, melon, a little band-aid, somewhat spicy, like basil. Sweet, but a flat kind of sweet. Not unpleasant, but almost artificial-smelling.

Taste is kind of blandly citrusy & floral at first, like flavored iced tea, but soon curls up into this stony, bitter greens kind of taste that wraps around the tongue. Burnt plastic. Really unpleasant. There's a decent kind of fruitiness, like strawberry gum, hiding in the middle there, but that super-phenolic taste just...sucks. It lessens a little bit, but is still there. That first mouthful is really putrid, though.

Medium-full-bodied, plenty effervescent, chalky. My mouth also kind of feels dried out & coated with a nasty kind of film, like I was sucking on cough drops or Altoids or something.

This was pretty rough. There's definitely something seriously off with this beer, phenols are waaay over the top to the point of being unpalatable. I think there's something worthwhile hidden in there somewhere, but it's inaccessible through all the nasty by-products. Some of my worse homebrews turned out better than this.

EDIT: The harshness lessens after a bit, but there's still a raw grassiness that's a turn-off, & a drinker shouldn't have to wade through that mess to get to something remotely decent. I'm bumping it up a bit, but damn.

 

 

 

12oz bottle poured into a pint glass
A: Burnt orange color; thin head that quickly dissipates
S: Orange and butterscotch
M: More orange and butterscotch, also clove. I think this is the least sour Indigo Imp I've ever had.
M: Medium bodied and very balanced compared to other beers from II.
O: I enjoyed this; this is from the 2011 summer batch, it appears all those below are from 2010. II says the beers can vary from batch to batch.