25th Anniversary Imperial IPA
Sockeye Grill & Brewery

 

really flavorful brew here for their anniversary, always love when they have new stuff on tap at the brewery! this one is packed with flavor, oily and palate coating in the west coast vein, but they call it a hazy on the menu, and the appearance is somewhat ambiguous. im not looking to put this in a box, and clearly the brewers werent either, as it has elements of both ipa types, and it is certainly imperial, fuller bodied, a little sticky, massively hopped, a bit bitter but also hugely dry hopped, flavorful from start to finish, smooth in texture, hiding its alcohol well, and a heck of a food beer with their salmon club, seems to love the salty bacon, the oily fish, its just right. its hard to pick out the hops in here, because this kind of has a little bit of everything, i get mango and orange in the nose, more stone fruit and pine in the taste, apricots and good weed on the finish, resinous but somewhat clean to drink on too. it has a nice minimal fermentation profile and is somewhat one dimensional on the grain side, in a good way. dangerously drinkable even though its got some body, and the freshness makes it. a nice release for this special occasion! sockeye has really upped their hoppy beer game recently!

 

 

FRESH 12oz can poured into a Sockeye tumbler. Pours out a crystal-clear golden straw with a creamy two fingers of off-white head. Smells and tastes fairly old school with a solid malt backbone and a small dose of alcohol, familiar hopping for Sockeye (which is probably what they were going for) - grassy, earthy, lemon, dankness, with grapefruit and pine. The malt lends to a full, dry body with the sweetness of some biscuit character, maybe oats or wheat as well. Overall nothing too amazing, which disappoints me a bit for this 'special' brew.