Imperial IPA
Yukon Brewing

 

Another gem in my latest cross-Canada trade with joemcgrath27.

A - Pours a slightly hazy copper colour, finger of head with some retention and sporadic lacing.

S - Scent is quite sweet with sugary pine and oily resin notes, peppery spice, caramel and buttered bread.

T - The sweetness continues to dominate offering up a sugary lemon iced tea hop profile with a strong dose of caramel malts. The hop flavours are surprisingly mild with the malt backbone dominating on the tongue. The bready caramel lingers on the finish with a a sour lemon bitterness.

M - Medium bodied, smooth and finishes dry.

O - A tasty DIPA which is easily drinkable and whose ABV goes undetected. The hop profile could've been a tad stronger, but it was quite flavourful nonetheless. Worth a try indeed.

A - clear golden orange, short head dissipated to a thin covering
S - herbal, grassy, with a touch of citrus and some sharp grainy malt aromas
T - similar to the nose with a prominent perfumy hop quality, finishes with grapefruit rind
M - light, very crisp and very dry, and I mean VERY dry
O - another solid offering from the ADD series, always stoked to see a Canadian brewer branching out in a big way and this is another step in the right direction

341ml bottle, packaged in a cardboard tube that displays some humorous sentiments (including an entreaty to _not_ drink their beer) and scribbled brewing notes around the whole.

This beer pours a slightly hazy, medium golden amber hue, with one finger of tightly foamy off-white head, which leaves just a few specks of lace around the glass as it hastily melts away.

It smells of lightly singed, bready caramel malt, some soft citrus cream, and floral, earthy hops. The taste is mixed bready malt, some barley, some edgy wheat, and an almost rye-like graininess, along with a moderate leafy pine and generic citrus rind bitterness, underlain by a nice tame simmering booze heat.

The bubbles are subtle, providing a caring, lifting hand to a lighter-than-average, and somewhat less than smooth body. It finishes sweet and biscuity, the hops and alcohol well blended into the woodwork.

A tasty enough brew, to be sure; however, it would be difficult to liken this to even the middle tier of best in BA class. And therein lies the rub: the Imperial English IPA category does not (yet) exist, so, in the meantime, this gets more short shrift than it really deserves. All other things being equal, this is just straight-ahead drinkable, for the ABV, and plainly enjoyable, for itself.

From a 341 ml brown bottle, came in a cardboard cylinder as part of Yukon's ADD series. Pours out a bright light copper hue, some lazy carbonation, however a tall loose creamy white head that retains well.

Fruity, floral hops on the nose, with bready, biscuity malt in the background.

Dry, grainy, toasty malt first on the flavour, quick spike of sweet bread, then things shift to spicy, leafy, fruity hops, finishing with a sort of Fruit Loops character, then grapefruit rind citrus ripping through that and carrying on into the aftertaste. A fair amount of depth and character going on in the hop bill, while the malt maintains a reasonable backbone.

Mouthfeel is rather light-bodied, mildly sticky slick texture, with a moderate carbonation that can become brisk on the finish.

Had this on tap at one point which was much more impressive. The bottle version is still enjoyable, however comes across as just an assertive American IPA rather than Imperial. Still a fine IPA regardless, but loses some points for not living up to its style claim. No worries, I'll still be grabbing more of this while it's available.

341ml bottle poured into tulip 18/5/12

A clear golden liquid with just a few slow bubbles floating up to a solid two finger foam that retains long enough too leave a few rings of lace

S herbal and floral hops with lots of caramel, a little bread and citrus, fairly malty with a nice balance too it

T a little rind and earthy compared to the smell, not an over the top hop bomb that I love but still quite nice

M a little grit left behind, quite smooth and creamy from the bubbles, not much heat for the strength pretty respectable

O a balanced DIPA? not sure if that's a good or bad thing, I do prefer lopsided hop bombs but this one is pretty drinkable

and English style DIPA? worth the 4$ no matter how you brand it,

The third installment of Yukon Brewing's ADD Series.

Appearance- Pours a golden amber with minimal head.

Smell- Sweet malts, slight hops, light citrus, and bready.

Taste- Moderate earthy hops upfront followed by the sweetness of the malts and citrus and bready characteristics. Finishes with a pleasant bitterness.

Mouthfeel- Mediium bodied with light carbonation.

Overall- Nice to see Yukon expand into the Imperial IPA category. I would've like to see the hops more pronounced in this brew. Other than that, a good IPA to give a go for.