Warlord Imperial IPA

Clearish amber coloured body with a copper glow and a thick, three centimetre tall tan head. Aroma of fresh hops, pine, pineapple, grapefruit, alcohol, resin and quite a bit of sweetness. Medium to Full-bodied; Strong hoppy flavour with pine and herbal tastes at first with quite a large bitterness, some deep nutty malt and a little sweetness on the end. Aftertaste shows some rather deep flavours for the style with a lot of resin and sprucey hops. Overall, an okay Imperial IPA, too strong on some tastes and not enough on others - a bit too potent, plus the 65 cL bottle is way too much of this one. I sampled this 65 cL bottle purchased from Liquor Outlet in Boonton, New Jersey on 24-July-2011 for US$5.95 sampled at home in Washington on 31-July-2011.

Bottle on bus at RBSG trip. Pours dark amber. Off white. Nose/taste of caramel and sweet malts, hops, peach and citrus. Medium body.

22 fl oz bottle. Pours cloudy orange with a small off white head. aROMa is preacy and citrusy. Bitter and yet slight sweet. Bitter and dry grapefruity. Ends dry and bitter into the finish. Nice and easy.

Bottled at Oliver Twist, Stockholm. Lightly hazy amber, rich lively head. Striking aroma of lychee and kumquat. Sweet with near full body and clean, rounded mouthfeel. Lots of biscuity malt, some alcohol induced pineapple esters. The bitterenss seem balanced, thanks to the full sized body. Good stuff!

Pours a slightly cloudy orange/amber color with a bubbly white head that doesn’t stick around very long, but leave lots of sticky lace on the way down. Smells of pine and citrus, some caramel and brown sugar in the background. Taste is much of the same. Malty with a resinous citrus hop bite and an astringent almost phenolic finish. Carbonation is a bit high, mouthfeel is resinous, body is medium. Not that hoppy for an Imperial IPA! Except for the finish I thought this was a pretty good IPA, but that astringency killed this one for me. 4.5/4.0/3.0/3.5/3.5 Re-sampled 5/12/2010 Pours a clear orange amber color with a smallish bubbly white head that dissipates quickly. Smells of pine and citrus, a hint of mineral and a bit of a caramel malt backbone. Taste is pine with a hint of citrus and a smattering of caramel and brown sugar. Syrupy mouthfeel, medium body and carbonation. This is a really good IPA. I still think its a stretch to call this a DIpa. This sample tasted much better than the last and gone was the astringent harsh bitterness that I remembered. I still think McNeil’s bottled product sucks for consistency, but this time I got a good bottle. My score reflects this sampling.

Location: Draft at Hop Devil, 2/18/11

Aroma: The nose has some pine hops, citrus hops, and some malty notes as well
Appearance: This one pours a hazy orange color with a frothy white head
Flavor: It has a smooth hop flavor with lots of citrus/pine, and some caramel malts for balance
Palate: It has a solid mouthfeel, a fairly low carbonation, and a medium body
Overall Impression: This beer has a very solid hop profile. I found this to be a really nice, perhaps even surprisingly nice beer. I was definitely glad to drink this one.

Bottle, 22oz, courtesy of MiP. A slightly hazy golden beer with a small, off-white to beige head. Meaty, caramel maltyness in the aroma, and lots of piney, citrus-peel likehops. Some alcohol too. Full-bodied, almost sticky mouthfeel, quite warming. The flavor has a lot of bitterness, it’s sweet, but not enough to combat the bitterness. Citrus peel and pine cones in large amount. Lasting bitter finish with pine-cones, citrus peel and alcohol. Overall, a bit sweet maybe, but really nice. 100814

Hazy amber with a small white head. Aroma of pine, fruit, tobacco leaves, citrus and alcohol. Sweet malt flavour with pine hops, hot alcohol and a bitter finish

Peculier Pub tap ($6): Pours a copper color with a white head. Aroma is of fruit, malts, and a whole bunch of hops. Darker and more on the malty side than I really like my DIPAs (I like them to be pale hop monsters really...) Taste was quite nice, not too extreme on the hops, but didn’t impress me either way with them. Also it had that characteristic McNeill’s thickness and sweetness. A whole lot of grapefruit all mixed up into there. Pretty nice and especially when I was looking for the best alcohol to price ratio.

Bottle @ Danish Summer Gathering, 2010. Pours hazy orange with a small creamy white head. Pine and grape. Very dry and bitter. Medium and smooth palate. Dry bitter lasting end.