The Incredible Hop Imperial Rye IPA
The Fort Collins Brewery

 

 

 

Poured murky orange/amber with thick white/tan head that held up pretty well. very light carbonation.

Aroma: Sweet malt, biscuit and light banana/tropical. Hops are minty. Caramel and chocolate notes.

Taste: Malt forward, with a sweet honey - almost cloying - character that rides through the taste. Some wet hop-ness comes through, but could use more hop balance...e.g bitterness.

Mouth: A bit sticky, malty, chewy.

Overall: Drinkable enough, but on the cloying side. Could stand to be dryer with more hop character for balance.

im a little sick of all the unwarranted hate on fort collins brewing. if their beers were in another market, people would be wet for them. this whole series was cool, and im glad to get to try the rye version, albeit past its real prime as an ipa, the alcohol has preserved it well. this is a great beer by any standard, and is woefully underrated on here. the pour is hazy and thick and sticky like raw honey, but its a little redder and a little more heady, with almost an inch of white foam that recedes in time. it stays cloudy and huge looking though. i smell heavy rye in the grain bill, i dont know how much, but its up there. the hops are still prominent and west coast style, oily, dank, and even sugary. its a really robust aromatic experience and its damn good. the flavor is a little less dynamic, with the malt and hops being sort of blended together all the way though it, with very little differentiation from first sip to finish, with the exception of rye spice and hop ibu intensity on the back end being a little more expressive. the rye is a great base for this hop complex, whatever varietals they included. this whole series deserved more credit. huge body, huge everything, this is a beer drinkers beer, thats for sure. the last sip is as good as the first, a real winner in my book. i hope these come back around and people wise up to them.

 

 

Served in a snifter glass.

Appearance: Looks really nice from the beginning, cloudy amber...almost a lighter copper with heavy bubbles on the body. Off0white head rising to maybe about 2/3" off the body.

Smell: Nice and potent hops, caramel notes with strong hop scent to it.

Taste: This gets a little getting used to, malty as it can get with hit of sourness to it and caramelly. Complex, yes it is....I have a problem with a salty feel that is a little different than most "Rye IPAs". Still worth trying out. It is bitter, but more hoppy bitter than floral bitter.

Mouth: Medium bodied, pretty sticky and though the taste wasn't as much as I expected this is sticky.

Overall: Good beer but for the price of how much one bottle goes for I would rather have my favorite DIPA. It does have a little bit of everything you would like, but the salt feel is something that will hold this version of Incredible Hop back. Is this good, you can bet your check on it, but would I go nuts if I didn't try it, that's another story. Salud!

 

Man...was really hoping for a good one....unfortunately....disappointed. The beer pours cloudy copper with thin white head that is leaving a spotty lace. The smell reminds me of bitter chocolate with touches of molasses. The taste is malty with not a lot of hops but it did come off the pallet clean. The mouthfeel is medium in body with ok carbonation. Overall disappointing.

Ok, so was gonna just do a rating on this one and figured I'd write a full review since not many have rated, and I thought this was a lot better than its score had anticipated.

But, If I were to just put aside the style and taste the beer as it is, I would not have guessed this was an imperial rye IPA, but a very malt driven, sweet and uniquely hopped barleywine. Love the taste. Very decadent, and made for a great dessert drink. I admit, the mouthfeel wasn't nearly as good as the smell and taste - very thick and sticky, but it evened out in the end. The head on this beer was massive - super thick froth that collected on top. The mouthfeel made this a sipper, but had to finish that bomber! this one hits hard though at 10.2%.

Overall, I had a good time with this one and hope you all do the same. Would definitely buy again

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First had: on tap at Capone's, Norristown, PA

This one was interesting. Don't dive into this expecting a hoppy palate-blasting DIPA; but you still get a pretty tasty brew. Served in a tulip, a cloudy reddish-amber color with a small but dense cap of off-white head. Moderate retention and a bit of spotty lacing. At first whiff, this didn't seem like a DIPA at all. Nor did it at any whiff. The aroma was surprisingly bready and malt-driven, with notes of dark sugars and earthy hops. It's been said by others here, but the first thing I thought of when I tasted this beer, was that it was quite barleywine-ish. Bready malts, sweet with toffee and light fruity phenols, coffee? (it was definitely there), leather, nuts, there were hops, but they clearly took the back seat. Medium body on the edge of full, pretty smooth, lots of flavor. I'd estimate the ABV around 7-9%--if higher it was relatively well-hidden.

This drinks well as an American barleywine or even a strong ale, but as a DIPA, it's hardly what I'd call exemplary, and that's the only reason I take points off overall. It was still a tasty brew though, I thought, and I was even tempted to order another.