Goes To 11
Sleeping Giant Brewing Co.

On draft at Sleeping Giant. Poured a clear, golden orange color with a small, off-white head of foam. It left sudsy trails of lace. It smelled of grapefruit, orange, caramel and pine. Sweet fruity taste with orange notes. Toasted caramel with a piney bitterness.

473 mL can from the LCBO; dated Mar 30 2021 and served slightly chilled.

Pours a foggy golden-amber colour, with one finger of bubbly, soapy, off white-coloured head situated atop. It leaves behind a speckled band of sticky lace, in addition to a tight collar and a thin, filmy layer on the surface - looks typical of this style, but the smell is atypical, in that it is extremely muted. I'm getting hints of bready, lightly caramelized malts, alongside suggestions of earthy, floral, resiny hops and indeterminate citrus.

An old-school DIPA, that's for sure, featuring a robust malt bill that includes notes of toasted bread and caramelized sugars, with C hop flavours dominating the remainder of the profile. I'm getting orange and grapefruit, in addition to hints of pineapple and syrupy canned stone fruit; quite bitter at the finish, with lots of herbal, peppery, earthy hops and resiny bitterness lasting through the finish and into a moderately boozy-sweet aftertaste. Medium-full in body, with relatively light carbonation that gently nudges the surface of the palate; feels smooth and a little slick on the tongue. Fair drinkability for the style, i.e. one serving is plenty.

Final Grade: 3.56, a B grade. Goes to 11 is quite bitter and unabashedly strong, with a very sturdy malt character that stands sure in the face of a sizable hop onslaught. My main gripes with Sleeping Giant's DIPA mostly boil down to personal taste - it's certainly not bad for what it is, but I am not real big on the spicy, herbal hop profile, which does not (IMO) jive all that well with the boozy-sweet back end. If you're a fan of old-school (bitter, malty, boozy) DIPAs or American strong ales, you can consider this one well worth looking into, but I don't see myself revisiting this all that often.

473 ml can served cold into a chalice. LCBO purchase for around $4.25 CDN. Canned March 30, 2021.

Appearance - Auburn colored beer with some haze and a finger plus of rocky off-white head. Pretty good staying power and a small amount of spotty lacing left behind.

Smell - Not a big nose, some light piney aromas, hints of melon, mango and lots of caramel.

Taste - A malt bomb. Tons of caramel, some sweet fruit like pineapple and mango, but lacking the bitterness to be balanced.

Mouthfeel - Medium-full, boozy, the sweetness isn't cloying but approaching it. The body and carbonation is about right. Chewy almost, when sampled in combination with the flavor.

Overall - Too sweet for me, even more sweet than many a barleywine, the pineyness isn't bold enough enough and is too caramel dominated. Not a bad beer, if expectations are adjusted for all this, but as far as Imperial IPA's go, it's a miss.