Improv Imperial Dark Rye Ale
Cigar City Brewing in Tampa, Florida, United States 🇺🇸
Speciality Grain - Rye / Roggenbier Special|
Score
7.32
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What you have here is an Imperial Dark Rye Ale. Isn’t that a lot to be going on in just one beer? Well yes, it is. But that is the point. Layers. Flavor elements building on and playing off of preceding elements, like a building wave; a growing crescendum of taste bud temptation; a wall of sound expressed through flavor and channeled toward your mouth. This beer isn’t for everyone. In many ways it is more than just a little weird. It certainly doesn’t fit easily into any category. In the spirit of all great things that are conceived in the moment, but perfected through passionate repetition it started life as an improvisation and grew from there. And it might not be for you. But if the thought of big spicy rye notes, a wallop of a hop punch, multitudinous layers of caramel, sweet malt and a respectable balancing gravity sound intriguing then you might want to wing it and give Improv a try.
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7.4/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 6
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Bottle. Deep amber/brown body with a frothy tan head, slowly diminishing. Aroma of raw, resinous hops, rye, caramel, peach. Hint of wood and herbs. The flavor is moderately sweet and lightly to moderately bitter. It finishes lightly sweet and moderately bitter, a bitterness that lasts long into the finish. Medium body, velvety texture, lively carbonation. Bitterness and rye twang dominate the beer, especially the longer you drink it. Early on, there are tastes of sweet caramel, citrus, orange which are overrun by bitterness and rye. Raw plant and earthy tastes accent the citrus and grapefruit. Interesting beer. Wish the malt flavors stuck around longer.
Tried
from Bottle
on 18 May 2012
at 20:20
8.1/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Brown bottle, 1 pint 9,4 ounces, via Luc Bourbonnière, savoured April 21 2012; eye: ruby, clear, no effervescence, voluminous beige head that turns into a tiny sheet, light lacing; nose: malt, resinous hops, spices, light alcohol, smoke, roasting, liquorice; mouth: malt, resinous hops, liquorice, light spices, light alcohol, light smoke, roasting, finale in malt with light presence of spices, full body, average carbonation, mildly bitter, lightly sweet, silky texture; overall: quite fine FRANÇAIS Bouteille brune, 1 pinte 9,4 onces, via Luc Bourbonnière (merci!), savourée le 21 avril 2012; œil : rubis, limpide, pas d’effervescence, mousse beige abondante qui se transforme en une petite couverture, légère dentelle; nez : malt, houblon résineux, épices, léger alcool, fumé, torréfaction, réglisse; bouche : malt, houblon résineux, réglisse, léger épices, léger alcool, léger fumé, torréfaction, finale en malt avec légère présence d’épices, corsée, carbonatation moyenne, moyennement amère, légèrement sucrée, texture soyeuse; en résumé : bien bon
Tried
from Bottle
on 21 Apr 2012
at 09:50
7.6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Bottle @ home, courtesy of markwise. Thanks Mark!! Improv pours a clear, dark maroon/brown appearance with a one and a half finger, light brown head and has good lacing. In its nose is a toasty caramel malty smell with some rye spiciness, moderately piney/earthy hoppiness, and notes of chocolate, caramel, and leaves. There’s a soft mouth feel to the beer due to the oats and a rich yet spicy, dark caramel, rye malty flavor, again with a moderate earthy, organic, lightly piney hoppy taste. Smooth, easy drinking beer that doesn’t taste like it has 9% abv.
Tried
from Bottle
on 31 Jan 2012
at 17:33
8.6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 10
Overall 8.5
750ml bottle split with Madison crew. Dark stained-glass amber-brown. Thinnish beige head. This is a really done big brown ale, about all you could ask for. Well balanced with a ton of depth, from woody vanilla tinged mollasses to thick steady piny orange hops. Expertly executed, a little brown sugar. Such depth of malt, and no trace of any imbalance or off-flavor. The rye and oatmeal work here quite well. World Class.
Tried
from Bottle
on 25 Nov 2011
at 17:16
6.5/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 5
Texture 8
Overall 6
Bottle: Poured a marble brown with a tan color head. Aroma is nutty and caramel. Taste was very spicy and tangy of rye up front some floral as well breaks in but subsides to a smooth caramel malt oat finish. The rye and hops overpowered a little bit to much for me to really enjoy the rest of what was going on.
Tried
from Bottle
on 06 Nov 2011
at 13:12
2/10
Tried
on 16 Sep 2011
at 21:23
7.2/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 8
Bottle. Pours a dark ruby amber brownish color with a small off-white head. Has a slightly roasted malty rye chocolate aroma. Roasted malty chocolate hoppy caramel flavor with hints of oatmeal. Has a roasted malty hoppy caramel finish.
Tried
from Bottle
on 15 Aug 2011
at 08:12
7.4/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 6.5
bottle thanks to Danny, pours dark murky brown with a tall frothy tan head, nice lacing. Aroma is peppery rye, caramel, pine and grassy hops. Flavor is bitter cocoa, again the peppery rye with a big pine finish. Really nice stuff.
Tried
from Bottle
on 30 Jul 2011
at 00:34
7.1/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
750ml bottle got in a trade with HOPSHUNTER. Deep brown with thin off white head for the presentation. Light lace. Delightful nose of pine, chocolate and caramel. Flavor of roasted malt, rye, chocolate and lots of pine hops. The oats they talk about DOES give it a nice full, smooth feel in your mouth. Piney hops leaves light to no bitterness. Med- Full body. Dry finish. A nice intro to CCB. ( 1st beer ever from there) Can’t wait to try the other bottles!
Tried
from Bottle
on 05 Jul 2011
at 16:49
6.9/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Bottled. An amber beer with a yellowish head. The aroma has notes of malt and alcohol. The flavor is sweet with ntoes of malt, alcohol, and spices, leading to a dry and bitter finish.
Tried
from Bottle
on 11 May 2011
at 15:24