Hopsickle Imperial India Pale Ale
Moylan's Brewery

 

Some scrappy notes from early 2011.
Purchased along with Kiltlifter Scotch Ale. Hopsickle is VERY hoppy.
It has a cloudy copper look and a good creamy head in a pint glass. The smell is quite hoppy, flowery and fruity. Hops are way out front in the taste and are a bit parching. Very tasty with some orange and I guess pine. It is bittersweet. Malts are in the background and are sweet and clean. The bitterness lingers for a good while. Easy drinking for it's high alcohol content. Very excellent.

Pours a hazy copper color with a runaway head that quickly went to lacing.

Smells and tastes of dank piney hops and sweet malt with a slightly bitter finish.

Medium body with light carbonation. Crisp clean mouthfeel.

This is a very drinkable, bold , all west coast IPA!

 

650 ml bottle, Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger, as Moylan’s Hopsickle Imperial Ale Triple Hoppy (no "india" here). ABV is 9.2%. Gusher bottle, but previous bottles have been okay. Deep golden to amber colour, moderate white head. Strong aroma of American hops and crystal malts, notes of orange marmalade. Medium sweet flavour, very hoppy with grapefruity and resinous notes, and a solid bitterness in the finish and aftertaste.

 

 

 

 

 

Big, bold, over-hopped, Imperial IPA. A mouth-puckering, tongue-curling, bone dry, hot & spicy, hop bomb with minimal fruit to balance the bitterness. A dense layer of syrupy malt offers little in terms of balance. Ultimately, too harsh for me.

A: Pours a copper color with 2 fingers of head that fades down to a thin cap

S: Very hoppy. Citrus and pine up front along with some light floral notes

T: Follows the nose. Pine resin and citrus up front along with some lighter floral notes. Light malt backing. Quite bitter. Finishes with lingering pine and citrus

M: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation

O: One of the OG West Coast “triple” IPAs. Dangerously drinkable for 9.2%. Definite respect

Golden honey color with a 3F head in a Spielgelau IPA glass.

Mild piney, citrus aroma.

Very smooth, creamy MF.

Excellent piney, vanilla taste.

Very enjoyable.

 

Too rich, malty, full-bodied and boozy. Triple IPAs aren't fun because they lose all of the fresh nuanced hop notes. This beer just tastes like a jumbled malt bomb. And at $19 a 4-pack, I regret revisiting it.

I've been brewing & enjoying IPAs and double IPAs for 12+ years now, and I'm amazed by all of the positive reviews for this beer. Usually a beer with 90 or above on this website is a stellar example of the style. The only reason it has received higher than average marks is due to the high booze content. Some people are just suckers for a quick buzz.

Stone Enjoy By IPA is better than this beer and similar abv.

Batch #2183

Pours a beautiful sheen of translucent deep orange copper topped with multiple fingers of creamy, off-white froth; excellent head retention fades gradually to a generous spread of chunky, soapy lacing, light, fluffy cap, and a steady, tightly-wound collar of froth.

Aroma is bursting with floral notes, candied tangerine, and orange zest upfront, with subtle accents of fresh peach and orange blossom honey guiding into sticky apricot and grapefruit with a touch of malt to close.

Taste offers earthy pine and sticky apricot against refined, resin-soaked malt dominant across the profile; booze-laced grapefruit peel comes into prominence on the back end, while a dirt-laced fresh hop char marks the swallow.

Mouthfeel shows a slightly oily full body and carbonation a shade below medium; a slick, semi-boozy mid-palate warms into a rounded, honey-smooth and lightly sticky finish, leaving a gritty, bitter lingering remaining long past the swallow.

Not one for all occasions, this is an old-school IPA intense in every regard; saturated and just barely self-contained, but I can't help but respect the finesse they managed into such an effectively hoppy brew, potent even as it warms.