13th Anniversary Imperial India Pale Ale
No-Li Brewhouse

In the last 48 hours I have had this beer twice - first at The Elk a few hundred yards from my apartment, then most recently at Northern Light's brewpub near Gonzaga University (as the Bulldog faithful file into The Kennel), both times on-tap. This is a limited edition beer, brewed for the 13th anniversary of the brewery.

I received this a darker shade than the usual IPA. It was a kind of dark amber, almost light brown color. There was a medium off-white head with a middling amount of lace left on the sides of the glass.

This was a little more boozy smelling than I expected. Sure, an Imperial IPA is going to be a little strong, but this was more raw than is typical for the style. Along with the citrusy hop that greet the olfactory senses the consumer also gets a distinct notion of alcoholic stength from this beer.

This is definitely a hoppy beer in taste, yet it is not a hop burner by any stretch of the imagination. The hop flavor is dominant without it being massively overbearing about it. There wasn't a huge amount of bittering hop flavor to this. Rather there was a citrusy, slightly spicy hop flavor accompanied by a warming alcohol sensation. It was dry at the swallow but not humungously so.

This had atypical mouthfeel for the style - medium bodied with a modestly oily feel to the tongue. No surprises here.

Not a bad Impy IPA, but not a terribly essential one either. Semi-locally, I'd say the Devil Dog Imperial IPA from Laughing Dog is superior (I'll try to get a review of that soon). Still, this isn't a bad version of the style at all, just not all it could be.