Imperial IPA
Fuller's

 

500 ml bottle in cardboard box, from Best of Beers, Denmark. ABV is 10.5%. Cloudy and very dark brown colour, probably the darkest IPA I've seen (except black IPAs, of course). Moderate to small off-white to beige head. Aroma of over-ripe red berries, jam, piney and earthy hops. The flavour is medium sweet and distinctly hoppy, notes of jam / marmalade, piney and earthy hops again. Slightly warming mouthfeel. Impressive.

 

 

 

500 mL bottle-in-a-carton from the LCBO; best before Dec 31 2028(!) and served barely chilled. I have my doubts that civilization will last that long, let alone this bottle of beer.

Pours a little hazy, with a garnet-bronze coloured body atop which is seated more than a finger of creamy, buff-tinged head. It dissipates within several minutes, reduced to a frothy collar while depositing a few rings of seafoam-patterned lacing in the process. An elegant-looking beer. The nose includes a tempting blend of earthy, leafy, piney hops, as well as bready, lightly toasted malts and toffee. A little herbaceous, with the alcohol being pretty easy to discern.

Quite flavourful and strong, but downright old school compared to the DIPAs that dominate shelves these days. I'm getting notes of bready, biscuity malts and caramelized sugars at the forefront, with a noticeable booze presence as well, Fortunately the warmth integrates decently with the back end of the flavour profile, which includes figgy dark fruits, toffee sweetness, as well as plenty of earthy, leafy, resiny hop bitterness that lasts on into a lightly warming aftertaste with hints of peppery spice, toffee, toasted malt and whisky. Full-bodied, with low carbonation levels that limply brush against the surface of the tongue, resulting in an oily-slick, smooth texture. Not a major issue, and somewhat forgivable at 10.5%, but the mouthfeel is my least favourite aspect.

Final Grade: 4.07, an A-. Fuller's Imperial IPA is not what I would call a modern take on the style, but the 'elegant yet reserved' English packaging kinda hints towards that. In the true spirit of old school DIPAs, the alcohol is a prominent facet of the flavour, as is the malt bill, making this a particularly robust and multi-faceted brew - it almost reminds me of an oaked beer, but as far as I know it underwent no such treatment. I wouldn't say I'm dying to have another, but let's just say that the second bottle in my cellar probably won't make it to the end of 2028.

 

I bought mine at LCBO Ottawa,Canada december 2019.Poured into a classic pint tall glass.Light brown in colour,it becomes reddish under led lights.Aroma is of fruits confits,candied fruits,very sweet.I find it very sirupy,almost no effervescence .Hops are very light though they come out a bit stronger after a few seconds.Quite frankly,blind tested,I would call this a barley wine.Not what I expected at all from an IPA,even an Imperial one.Maybe bad travelling,or storage,I don't know.Not something I will buy again for sure.

 

500 ml bottle served cool into a tulip. LCBO purchase for $8.00 CDN. Review #1,800. Comes in a cool sleeve like the Vintage Ale and the Imperial Stout. Best before the end of 2028!? Have a not so surprising prediction that this will end up for like and English Barleywine than anything else. I'm presuming Fuller's brought this back for another year.

Appearance - Ruddy brown-red color, Aggressive pour yielded a finger of off-white / light tan head. Better staying power than I imagined given the ABV. Some sparse lacing clings to the edges of the glass.

Smell - Leafy hops, lots of malted barley, grains, bready aromas with a slightly floral finish.

Taste - Smooth flavors. Sort of a leafy and grainy combo transitioning to roasted malts, some wood and then suggestions of caramel and molasses at the close. Interetsing combo and quite delicious.

Mouthfeel - Full bodied, good expressive carbonation, drying finish and robust feelings on the tongue and in the mouth. Booze is well hidden, making on a brief appearance at the close and then of course as the heat rises in your throat after a few sips.

Overall - Hard to grade this, it says Imperial IPA, but being Fuller's this is distinctly English with the hop selection, this is the polar oppositre of your latest, juice-box of a DIPA with late series, double dry hopping hopping that is green as hell. Thinking of it more of a merging between and English Barleywine, and Old Ale with some American influences and with that it mind, this is a delicious brew meant to be savored and enjoyed. Well worth a tipple or two, if you can sparse the extra charge.

 

Bottle: Poured a deep brown color ale with a large dark dirty head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma of deep caramelized malt notes with some remnants of residual sugar notes with some dry earthy hops notes. Taste is also a mix of deep caramelized malt notes with some residual sugar notes with some huge earthy dry hops notes with light bitterness. Body is full with good carbonation. Not your typical IIPA but interesting take on the style.

 

Brown bottle with best before 2027 date

Pours a lovely amber brown with scant white head and scant effervescence. Smells is bready, roasted malts, some piney resin, floral notes.
Taste is sweet malts forward, dark fruits, fig, prune with transition to a sharp, piney hops, hints of floral notes with transition to tart/mid note and clean finish.
Medium bodied, scant carbonation, sweet without being too malty and clean finish.
Overall, very tasty imperial ipa (double IPA?)
Reminds me of dogfish 120 IPA - tasty beer, well hidden ABV, but definitely a sipper!
I'll stock up before they run out of this limited edition brew.

 

A - Pours a deep dark brown mahogany colour thin head but stays the distance and laces.
S - Sweet malt and fruits and big
T - Love the fact that this is not a Hop Bomb but rather a balanced malty brew with a serious hop kick to boot. A classic English style IPA with the kick put into the malt rather than the hop.
M- Medium to full mouthfeel
O- A unique beer that really captures the history and imagination of days gone bye with a modern twist.

My favorite brewery from the UK, the best craft beer mastery of Europe, Fullers! Here they are with something they never did before!
They made beers in quite a variety but they never really indulged in the realm of IPAs. Now here they are with a limited edition Imperial IPA, kind of a "once in a lifetime" thing. Putting all the label notes aside, I sum this beer up like this: it is the peak of their craftmanship!
So far, taking many into consideration, perhaps their Golden Pride has been their flagship non plus ultra beer - but now they managed to take it further to a next level. They created an Imperial IPA from English hops in a way as if they made another Golden Pride: they made it, this is the English Pride!
I can't describe the flavors, ot is so deep and dank, no matter how overwhelmed I might be, this is still an outstanding beer. The time I spent drinkingbthis beer was 100% enjoy,ent from the beginning to the end, nothing against it, just the superlatives: an intense, thich, perfectly balanced and impressively hop-honey like experience!
And you know what? In the end I started thinking that it resembles the Golden Pride! It showed me that Fullers is not only a great brewery but they have a trademark flavor - which makes you happy whenever you feel it. And this is the mark of a truly great brewery. Congratulations for this Limited Edition, really special brew!

500ml bottle, in a nice green cardboard sleeve. Made with British hop varietals, and a 'hint of black pepper'. Best before 2028 - seriously?

This beer pours a clear, dark red-brick amber colour, with two fingers of puffy, loosely foamy, and bubbly tan head, which leaves a bit of random streaky lace around the glass as it slowly dissipates.

It smells of bready and doughy caramel malt, toffee pudding, brown sugar syrup, some muddled earthy spiciness, and subtle leafy, piney, and gently lit-up floral hop bitters. The taste is grainy and bready caramel malt, toffee squares, some mixed berry fruitiness, wet black pepper spice, demerara sugar, and more laid-back leafy, earthy, and piney green hoppiness.

The carbonation is average in its palate-satisfying frothiness, the body a solid medium weight, and generally smooth, with a wee airy creaminess evolving as things warm up a tad out of the ol' basement fridge. It finishes on the sweet side, very robustly malty and frooty.

Overall - yeah, if you'd handed me a glass of this and inquired as to my opinion of it, I would have immediately said decent English Barleywine. There isn't anything really all that IPA-like about this offering, but it's still quite good - akin to an imperialized London Pride.

Fuller's is one of those breweries that produces some pretty forgettable beer, but you go back again and again because they have a few classics and are always hoping the next one is special. As far as the "boxed" beers go, the Vintage Ale and Imperial Stout are pretty darn good, so I was very curious about this new one in green.
First thing you notice is how it looks. It pours an absolutely beautiful deep dark mahogany red. With light coming through, it is really pretty. The nose, however, is super disappointing. There isn't any. At a whopping 10.5%, you'd expect either heavy sweet malt like a barleywine, or tons of hops. Nope. Just slight malt and slight hops peaking through. If you were blindfolded, you would never just what this beer is. The flavor is bigger for sure (how could it not be?). Much more of an English barleywine flavor, but you can tell there is a ton of bitterness holding back the 10.5% pile of sweet malts. Actually, very balanced and the ABV doesn't weight down the beer. Overall, a good beer that is unfortunately just missing a critical component.