Top 10 Imperial IPAs

Blind Pig is a regular IPA, not an imperial.

 

LOL… okay. It still stays on my list

 

No bias right, fellow Wisconsinte?

It was on my list until I remembered La Cumbre Full Nelson. It's an honorable mention for sure.

 

To be fair, from the ones Ive had.....no order because its too hard to pick one over the others...
Stone Ruin Ten
Stone Enjoy By
Victory Dirtwolf
Kane Over Head
Carton 077xx
Lagunitas Sucks
Maine Brew Co. Dinner
Firestone Double Jack
Lawsons/OC Double Dose
Sixpoint Hi-Res

 

More power to you, but OP asked for imperial IPAs, so objectively it shouldn't be there.

 

The order is kinda arbitrary but here's mine

1.Columbus Bodhi
2. Fat Heads Hop Juju
3. Great Lakes Chillwave
4. Lagunitas Sucks
5. Dogfish Head 90 Minute
6. Avery Maharaja
7. Sixpoint Resin
8. Green Flash West Coast
9. Stone Ruination
10. Victory Dirtwolf

 

1) Heady
1A) Abrasive
3) Great Lakes Chillwave
4) Double Duckpin (Union Brewing - Baltimore)
5) Stone Enjoy By
6) Pliny tE
7) Bell's Hopslam
8) Victory Dirtwolf
9) Three Floyd's Dreadnought
10) Lagunitas Sucks

Never had Alpine, Hill Farmstead or Lawson's

 

To be honest many of those mentioned by others I have not had and it sure would be great to have them ! Of those I have had-I won't name them to avoid annoying folks- the Scream just works better for me. The discussion is great and it gives us all some ideas of different brews to look for ! I do not care where it comes from, just that it appeals to me or does not.

I say this after looking at some of the beer books I bought back in the 90's. The world of beer has certainly exploded since then. Many of the styles such as IIPA did not even exist then. And I still like Sam Smith's Winter Welcome although I would not classify it as a "winter warmer ". I enjoy what the beer revolution has done to bring us new beers/ales and miss the availability of the nice British beers that used to be accessible here. No doubt there will be more to come that is exciting !

 

Congrats! You're the 1000000th person to post this thread.

Anyway, I'm gonna go with:

1. Enjoy By
2. Sucks
3. Dirtwolf
4. Pliny
5. Saint Archer DIPA
6. Double Jack
7. Racer 15
8. Simtra
9. Nelson Showers
10. Resin

Not necessarily in that order, in fact Nelson Showers would probably be at the top. I've only had Heady and Gandhi once so I can't really say. It's hard to recall exactly how good they were, but they were pretty awesome. I need to drive out to Alpine. I keep delaying it because it's like an hour drive away.

 

1. Surly - Abrasive
2. Alpine - Exponential Hoppiness
3. Three Floyds - Permanent Funeral
4. Toppling Goliath - Sosus
5. Kern River - Citra Double
6. Lawson's Finest - Double Sunshine
   
7. Toppling Goliath - King Sue
8. Avery - Maharaja
9. Hill Farmstead - Double Citra
10. The Alchemist - Heady Topper

Honorable mentions - Lagunitas - Sucks, Pipeworks - Ninja vs Unicorn, Victory - Dirtwolf, Revolution - Unsessionable, Founders - Double Trouble, Russian River - Pliny the Elder, Noble Ale Works - Nelson Showers

 

Alchemist Heady Topper
Surly Abrasive
Great Lakes Chillwave
Pipeworks Galaxy Unicorn
Pipeworks Amarillo Ninja
Stone Enjoy By
Lagunitas Sucks
Black Husky Sparkly Eyes
NEBCo Locust Reign
FFF Permanent Funeral

 

1. Russian River- Pliny the Elder
2. Russian River- Pliny the Younger
3. Knee Deep- Simtra
4. Knee Deep/Kern River- Deep River
5. Stone- Enjoy By
6. Lagunitas- Sucks
7. Victory- DirtWolf
8. Green Flash- Green Bullet
9. 3 Floyd- Dreadnaught
10. Altamont- Hop Wash

 

This is tough but I'll take a crack at it:
10. Perpetual IPA (Troeg's)
9. Hop Stoopid (Lagunitas)
8. G'Knight (Oscar Blues)
7. 90 Minute (Dogfish Head)
6. Dirt Wolf (Victory)
5. Mongo IPA (Port)
4. Hop Crisis (21st Amendment)
3. Hopslam (Bell's)
2. Enjoy By (Stone)
1. Pliny the Elder (Russian River)
...something along those lines...

*I haven't had the privilege of trying Heady Topper yet.
**I understand the ongoing debate of "Is Nugget Nectar an IPA or an Imperial Ale?" For the purpose of this post its an Imperial Ale. If you make me consider it an IPA it goes..probably #2 and everything else gets bumped back.

 

From what I've had these are those I consider the best. In no particular order:

1. Lawson's Finest Double Sunshine (though this does probably deserve to be #1)
2. Alpine Pure Hoppiness
3. Hill Farmstead Abner
4. Peekskill Higher Standard
5. Other Half Green Diamonds
6. Russian River PtE
7. Surly Abrasive
8. Alchemist Heady
9. Carton 077XX
10. Sucks

 

A top ten is hard but without a doubt
Kane Overhead
and
Rushing Duck War Elephant

Are on that list

 

Curious why there's no sculpin. Does it not classify as a DIPA?

 

No order but 10 that stand out in my head:

Alchemist Heady Topper
Victory Hop Ranch
Sixpoint Hi-Res
Stone Enjoy By
New England Ghandi Bot
Lagunitas Sucks
Bell's Hopslam
FFF Dreadnought
Great Lakes Chillwave
Sierra Nevada Hoptimum

 

Its not considered a Double/Imperial IPA. Otherwise it would be up there.. In fact I just put back 2 of them...Fantastic!!!

 

Hopslam
Regular Ruination
Freak of Nature
Snake Handler
Hop Stupid
The Oracle
Green Flash West Coast
Hop Drop n' Roll
Hop Stoopid
Heady

Honorable Mentions

Hop Ranch, Double Trouble, 90 Minute

 

1. Hop venom
2. Double Jack
3. Sticky Hands
4. Mongo
5. Racer 15
6. PtE
7. Blue Dot
8. Dirt Wolf
9. Ruination
10. Hop 15