Emperor of Clouds
Three Notch'd Brewing Co. (Craft Kitchen & Brewery)

 

From the pint can, it pours a hazy (surprise!) amber color with a modest just off white head that diminishes to a thin layer with runners up the side. The nose gets a lot of citrus. The mouth follows with a bit of sharpness as you drink it.

Taster pour at RVA taproom. Dark golden pour with a mild haze. Aroma is fruity with light floral notes. Taste adds some sweet caramel flavors, piney, fruity and floral. A bit of bitterness lingers on the tongue.

 

 

 

Very solid beer. On draft at brewery in Charlottesville. Not exactly hazy, more solid amber. Very little lacing. A little bit of oily aftertaste that lingers on front of mouth, but not unpleasant. High test abv, but goes down smooth like all good beers!

Best by 08/28/23. I am poured into a BA 25th anniversary teku - hell yeah!

A: mildly hazy medium amber hue with 2-3 finger oatmeal colored frothy head with good retention and sticky band of lacing.

S: aroma is more West Coast IPA than hazy IPA with pine, resin, grapefruit, and orange. Light amount of caramel malt. Light fruity yeast ester.

T: flavor is also more West Coast IPA, like with pine, grapefruit, resin, and dank qualities dominating. There is a malty/bready component in the mid-palate. I don’t get any tropical fruit other than possibly peach/mango moderately bitter with dank aftertaste. Yeast ester is present in aftertaste also is light fruit gum.

M: medium body with light, carbonation and relatively dry finish. Also more like a West Coast imperial IPA.

O: I don’t think Emperor of Clouds is a hazy, New England style IPA, maybe it fits with hazy California imperial IPA. It taste great, but this review was based on information on the can and on their website about the style which states this is a hazy IPA.

 

Probably the best NEIPA I have had. It looks great and has strong fruity, juicy flavor. Poured from a 16 oz can into a pint glass, this beer has the requisite dull, straw yellow color. The foamy white head is large, with excellent retention and there is a large amount of thick, foamy bands of lacing. Taste and aroma feature a large amount of sweet juicy tropical fruit. this appears to be a somewhat complex mix in that it is not dominated by pineapple or citrus fruit. Very tasty to go along with the great look. Mouthfeel is crisp and rich enough. The juicy fruit presence greatly adds to the mouthfeel. There is a fairly strong (for a NEIPA) bitterness here too, but it plays second fiddle to the explosion of fruit!!! A very good beer!!!

19.2 ounce can poured into a pint glass.

A- Freakin awesome. Enormous fluffy head that looks solid, like literally solid. Completely opaque, hazy, orange copper color. This is one of the best looking beers I’ve ever seen, and gets a very rare 5 rating.

S-Orange, grapefruit, with some west coast style pine. Not overly complex, but good.

T-I don’t know how to describe it other than.. busy? Orange and citrus rapidly give way to an overwhelming hops bitterness. Some honey, tangerine, grapefruit. It’s good, but can’t decide which coast it wants to belong to. Enormously bitter aftertaste, which I like, but may not be your thing if you’re looking for a juice bomb.

M- Smooth oily and full.

O-Looks great, smells great, tastes pretty good but is confused as to what it wants to be. It’s clearly marketed as a juicy hazy boi. It’s definitely hazy, but more bitter piney than juicy.