"Imperial" Beers

1. No beer style should be upped in ABV. I feel they are fine where they are and I'd like to enjoy the taste of a beer w/o getting hammered.

2. I gravitate towards no style with the Imperial titling. There are imperial styles that are naturally high in ABV w/o the imperial distinction ( barleywine, strong ale)

3. No. Each is its own style. Each have different variables when becoming besides simply upping the ABV.

Thank you, Jake

 

Last year I tried both an imperial Pilsner (Grimm Brothers Batch 500) and an Imperial Saison (River North J. Marie). Both were good, but the Imperial Saison was much better of the two.

 

I'm partial to the Double DBA myself.

 

1. N/A Beer

2. Imperial N/A Beer

3. Too ignorant on Belgian beers to have an opinion

 

I've had two beers labeled as Imperial wits, one from Ten Ninety and one from Boulevard. Both were pretty delicious, and I'd buy the heck out of them were they commonly found in my area.

Alas, per @TheJermis , Boulevard's Two Jokers is no longer produced. Just in time for them to see distribution to Ohio, of course.

EDIT: Corrected a brain malfunction where I meant "wit" but typed "hefeweizen". Apparently I need to drink more alcohol to function properly.

 

I thought you just said bocks don't exist...

 

Great Thread!
Imperial Brown ale...and yes if anyone suggests one make sure it's available in S.C. or I don't want to hear about it.

 

1. I'd like to see imperial brown ales, palo is one of my favorite beers and I'd like there to be more available like it. Also I like higher abv barleywines, olde ales, and I'd like to see a high abv version of a dunkel lager. I think pumpkin beers could use higher alcohol to balance the spices, I have a rumpkin in the cellar so I guess I'll find out.
2. I'm not going to gravitate to it because the call it imperial, but I'd like to see a distinction between stronger barleywines and olde ales. I like them on the stronger side preferably over 10%.
3. I don't

 

Re-read my post, I said that bocks are more of a group of lagers, not a single beer style.

 

I was just pokin' at you... nothing serious.

 

OP, I just want to make sure you're aware that the imperial moniker isn't really being used as much anymore. The entire craft industry has been trending to using words like "strong" and "double" for awhile. Some styles and breweries are exceptions, but even the BJCP is moving that direction.

 

1. There are some beers that should definitely not be imperialized. Pilsners, pale ales, bitters, ESBs, amber ales, hefeweizens, witbiers, and many more are delicious in part because of their combination of low-ABV drinkability and nice flavors.
2. I've enjoyed the few imperial brown ales that I've had. Other than that, I can't think of any styles that I'd rather see as imperial.
3. Dopplebocks are certainly stronger bocks, but I view tripels and Belgian blondes as having very different yeast characters. When I think "imperial" I think of not only ABV but bitterness. So I wouldn't consider a dopplebock to be an "imperial bock."

 

Imperial Barelywines are where it's at, for me at least.

 

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/style/5/

 

Of course they are, I'm just talking about where the industry is headed.

 

I think agree with what the one poster said on the first page, you're not really here but to argue and you're kind of dense.

 

Meh, It's just a descriptor that brewers can use to indicate higher ABV and more assertive taste. Much like now you can stick "IPA" onto the tail end of almost anything to indicate a hoppy flavor. The way things seem to be going, single word descriptors are the wave of the future. I'm not too concerned about it as in my opinion there are far too many "styles" as it is.