Woodcut No. 9 - Oak Aged Imperial IPA
Odell Brewing Company

 

 

12oz bottle. Poured out a clear, golden amber color with a small, khaki-colored head of foam. It left thick, sudsy trails of lace on the glass. It smelled of vanilla, bourbon, oak and toasted caramel. Sweet caramel, toffee, oak, vanilla and citrus with a touch of oakiness.

 

 

This one must be special because it's sealed.

The smell is beery, sweet and a little woody. It's pleasant.

It tastes like a bourbon barrel IPA with flavors of wood, fruity hops and alcohol. It has subtle notes of dark bread and leather. It's rich.

The finish is musty and alcoholic with a final note of real bitterness.

The mouthfeel is lucious and thinker than a usual IPA. It is just as fizzy as most IPAs.

Overall it's delicious like a subtle and sophisticated boiler maker. I give it a strong 4.9 out of 6.

 

Poured from a bottle into a snifter

Appearance – The beer pours a rather hazy orange amber color with a one finger head of white foam. The head on the brew has a decent level of retention, slowly fading over time to leave a bit of foamy lace on the sides of the glass.

Smell – The aroma of the brew is massive of sweeter fruits, bread, and some hop. The malty aromas are strongest of a grainy bread smell, while the fruity aromas are mostly of tropical fruits (tangerine, papaya, and mango). There is a bit of caramel sweetness as well, with a rather sizable amount of an oaky boozy aroma in there as well. Other hop aromas of a grapefruit and herbal hop are there, and when mixed with a touch of grass and the rest of the smells, a very inviting and warming aroma is left to entice one’s nose.

Taste – The taste begins with thick bready and doughy taste that has a touch of grain. Along with these tastes comes a lot of sweetness, being a mix of caramel and some of the tropical fruits that were detected in the nose (tangerine and papaya). Upfront, there is a moderate showing of hop, being mainly grapefruit in flavor. As the taste advances however, the hop profile changes some, with more earthy hops and some pine coming to the taste. At the same time, the boozy tastes also increase, with more and more warming, bourbon like tastes hitting the taste buds. The grain increases a little bit as well during this time, and with the increase in the hop, the maintenance of the sweet, and the hit of booziness throughout the flavor profile, one is left with a very thick, warming, moderately dank, and delightful taste to linger on the tongue.

Mouthfeel – The body of the brew is very thick and chewy with a carbonation level that is on the lower side. For the big sweetness, booze, and moderate dank hoppiness, the feel is great and makes this one a nice slow sipper.

Overall – Big and robust with a nice sweet, warming, and moderately dank taste. A nice cool weather sipper for a special occasion.

One of my son's who lives in Colorado gave me this beer for father's day. For an IIPA from last year, this is an amazing beer. Hope heads would think it too sweet, but the oak notes add such a wonderful balance. I'm so enjoying this beer!

 

 

Poured from a 12 ounce bottle dated 2019? into an IPA Spiegelau glass. Not much head. Nice rich amber/orange color and hazy. Smells very malty and hides the hops. Strong malt flavor blends well with the hops and and the oak wood. Has some citrus that reminds me of orange. A touch of orange blossom honey sweetness is nice too. Very unique taste. No bitterness detected at all. At 10.7% ABV the alcohol is not noticeable until it warms up and gets even sweeter. It's medium mouthfeel is for easy drinking too and warming. Overall I found to be excellent for unique characteristics for an Imperial IPA. Good Job Odell.

 

 

12 oz bottle shared by Tony.
Nonic Pint.

Caramel blonde body with a tall fluffy head of 2 fingers, leaving tons of dense lacing on the glass.

Smell is of aged spiced oak and fresh hops, with slight caramel and slight peat.

Flavor reminds me of a really nice wood aged scotch. It has this creamy texture and builds up with fresh floral hops and thick, dense oak and finishes on caramel and delicious sweet butterscotch. Peat and vanilla also linger on at the finish.

Feel is slick, smooth, creamy, and buttery. Nice alcohol heat.

Overall, an intensely awesome oak-aged IPA. I'm not typically a fan of aging anything hoppy, but this one turned out nice.

 

it seems like years since a woodcut beer has come out, that barleywine seems forever ago. this is an awesome beer, a cool continuation of a monumental series of beers, and i like this for being a little different. its a big ipa as a base, reddish in color and more malty than is trendy right now, not a huge head from the tap. the aroma is strong oak, almost in front of hops, seems like new wood, not a bourbon barrel or anything, i get no spirit at all, but lots of that natural lumber and vanilla character, nice with the baked type malt in here, and finally some strong pine from the hops, smell sweet too. the flavor is really wood driven too, and its again very new to me, perhaps a first use, not charred oak barrel, so much vanilla to the taste here, more compatible than i thought it would be with the hops too, which somehow taste plenty fresh in this, maybe dry hopped after the ageing? it seems that fresh. strong pine and spruce to it, some grapefruit, a sweet bready malt base with a maple note, but also a good amount of hop bitterness coming on late. to me this beer seems very odell, and very colorado. it has a lot of wood, a unique hop complexion in that context, and even a little yeast character. the alcohol is covered up pretty well, but this still drinks really heavy to me, a sipper for sure. pleasant and smooth to drink, one of the better wood aged hoppy beers i have had. so glad this series is happening again!

 

Had it on tap in a snifter at a local pub. Sort of a murky light brown. Poured by someone with no appreciation for a head but it did have good lacing.

A very tasty and comforting beer. Smells and flavors of caramel, vanilla, hazelnut, and sweet orange. A bit boozy but it had a freshness that made you want to drink more!