The Ripper
Black Bottle Brewery

From growler. Pours clear light copper gold with a medium white head that quickly goes to a thin collar that leaves some lacing..

The aroma is sweet caramel malt and fruity hops.

The flavor is sweet toasted caramel malt with spicy resiny fruity hops. The mouthfeel is full bodied with low carbonation.

Overall, a nice resiny fruity DIPA.

a peach ipa here, and an interesting one, a lot more peach than many others, but the sweetness it brings in the middle is almost like a jelly, or canned peaches in sweet syrup, which overcompensates for the bitterness of the hops, and in fact drowns them out to a degree far below where ipa should be in my opinion. it ends up being more like a peach pale, or even a peach strong, rather than an ipa. the hops are pretty far behind the fruit, and while i actually like the taste quite a bit, i think it fails as an ipa. not dissimilar to the way tree shaker from odell failed on that front in this years release. a pinch of citrus is a nice touch, but its all i really get from the hops. smooth in feel, but still with a light alcohol sting. it definitely needs more carbonation, that is one of my biggest critiques here, its flat like wine, and that doesnt help it. it could also be dried out a little bit on the back end, the residual sugar is distracting. one glass was enough for me, but glad to have tried this one. i think this peach flavor that they have developed here would be amazing in a nut brown, they should try one of those this fall!

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The Ripper." Imperial IPA. 8.40% ABV.

GROWLER review. 32 oz grumbler filled at Black Bottle a few days ago. Expectations are high given the brewery. Served at fridge temp into a nonical pint glass in high altitude Castle Rock, Colorado. Reviewed live. Side-poured with standard vigor as no carbonation issues are anticipated.

HEAD: Six fingers wide. Beige colour. Nice creaminess and thickness. Has a smooth, even consistency. Good (~9+ minute) retention. No lacing clings to the sides of the glass as the head recedes.

BODY: Clear copper of above average vibrance. Clean; no yeast particulate or hop sediment is visible.

Appears well-carbonated. It's a pretty typical appearance for an IPA. Not unique or special.

AROMA: Floral hop notes. Lychee. Pear. Orange and mango zest. Tropical fruit esters. Juicy clementine. Pale malts.

The hop choices don't seem incredible, but this aroma suggests an enjoyable IPA. It's pleasant, but merely average in strength.

No yeasty notes, alcohol, or off-notes are detectable.

TASTE: Entirely too sweet. The pale malt sweetness overwhelms the faint hop bitterness. It tastes a bit candied, actually. Or maybe that's bubblegum?

Hopwise, it's not very interesting. Tangerine, clementine, orange zest, floral hop notes, and fruity notes. Fruity esters.

There's a disharmony between malts and hops here. It's fundamentally unbalanced. Depth and amplitude of flavour are limited. Duration and intensity of flavour are merely average. I don't pick up on much intricacy or subtlety here. It's an underwhelming build for an Imperial IPA, and is neither cohesive nor gestalt.

TEXTURE: Surprisingly light in body. Sticky. Smooth and wet. Overcarbonated. Too thick. Syrupy, even.

Okay overall presence on the palate. This texture doesn't really suit this taste - or this style.

OVERALL: It doesn't do a great job at hiding its ABV. Not the most drinkable imperial IPA out there. This is an uncommon miss from Black Bottle. I wouldn't get it again, and killing all 32 oz of the grumbler will take some effort. By no means a good beer in its style. Not sure what they were after with this one. The syrupy thick texture definitely detracts, as does the coating bubblegum-esque hop flavour.

High D+

Amazzzzingly well hidden alcohol on this one! Smooth and fruity with an incredibly smooth bitterness that's not especially DIPA like. Not quite certain which hops were used, but it doesn't matter much, IIPA fans try this one when you're in town.