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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7.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
75cl Bottle at Dutch RB Meeting. Deep dark brown colour, off white head. Aroma of roasted malts, liquorice, dark fruits, coffee, hops. Flavour is sweet, dark fruits, coffee, hard roasted malts, light sour, bitter spicy hoppy and roasted finish with some laurel. Medium bodied. Good.
Tried
from Bottle
on 11 Apr 2011
at 01:58
7.9/10
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Appearance 10
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
RBESG 2010, Grand Tasting, bottle
Beautiful light amber color; small creamy head. The caramel and hop aroma is partially fruity and peppery. Round mouthfeel, sweetish toffee flavor, with strong hopping, not very fresh. Strong final, more resiny than the rest.
Beautiful light amber color; small creamy head. The caramel and hop aroma is partially fruity and peppery. Round mouthfeel, sweetish toffee flavor, with strong hopping, not very fresh. Strong final, more resiny than the rest.
Tried
from Bottle
on 06 Apr 2011
at 14:16
7.8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Location: 750 ml bottle from Whole Foods (Bowery), 3/8/11
Aroma: The nose has some black coffee, caramel, chocolate, wood, and a touch of citrus
Appearance: It pours brown with a slight red hue and a small light brown head, decent amount of lace
Flavor: This one starts off with a medium-heavy coffee/chocolate malts flavor and some wood, then it moves to some later pine/citrus hop and finally it ends with a just a bit of smoke
Palate: The body is medium with a fairly soft carbonation a slightly chalky feel and a long duration
Overall Impression: I was actually expecting this one to be a bit more hoppy on the nose from the description, but the hops did show up in the end palate. This one is pretty interesting and really long lasting on the mouth. I like the way the flavor works here. There is quite a bit going on for sure.
Aroma: The nose has some black coffee, caramel, chocolate, wood, and a touch of citrus
Appearance: It pours brown with a slight red hue and a small light brown head, decent amount of lace
Flavor: This one starts off with a medium-heavy coffee/chocolate malts flavor and some wood, then it moves to some later pine/citrus hop and finally it ends with a just a bit of smoke
Palate: The body is medium with a fairly soft carbonation a slightly chalky feel and a long duration
Overall Impression: I was actually expecting this one to be a bit more hoppy on the nose from the description, but the hops did show up in the end palate. This one is pretty interesting and really long lasting on the mouth. I like the way the flavor works here. There is quite a bit going on for sure.
Tried
from Bottle
on 08 Mar 2011
at 17:19
9/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 10
Texture 10
Overall 8
Bottle at Paradiso Georgetown, shared with Chris, and English teach at Georgetown University. Hazy brown color, tan head. Aroma of caraeml covered pumpernickel bread. Taste is bready, yeasty, malty, with a bit of spice and good balance. Great mouthfeel. really nice stuff, best of the night.
Tried
from Bottle
on 17 Feb 2011
at 18:45
8.3/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 9
First ratingSampled from tap at the brewery on Feb 1, 2011, thanks guys!Clear copper color, light brown head. Hoppy, citrus, bitter, grainy taste. A bit too bitter for my taste, but still very nice. Smooth mouthfeel, huge bitterness. Sweet, hoppy, citrus scent.8/4/8/4/16=4.0Rerate750 ml bottle shared @ Timos CCB Day tasting on July 7, 2012.As "ORIBA - Cigar City Improv Oatmeal Rye India-style Brown Ale".Slight bit hazy brown color, brown head. Roasted, malty, green peppers, sweet scent. Malty, roasted, a bit metallic taste. Roasted and metallic aftertaste. Smooth mouthfeel, medium high dry grainy bitterness. Also a sweet honey tone with chocolate in the taste.8/4/8/4/17=4.1
Tried
from Draft
on 03 Feb 2011
at 13:07
7.6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
botttle,shared by plovmand. cloudy brown, smooth light brown head. mild roasted styffy aroama, flavor is licorice, roasted stuff , hoppy balance, caramel, very well balanced.
Tried
on 02 Feb 2011
at 14:08
7.8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Pression @ CCB. Cuivre, mousse moka. Arôme, note de citron, houblon, malt avec un peu d’épice de seigle. Au palais, conserve un aspect bien IPA tout en ayant un fini malte et épais en bouche. Malt grillà, avec un peu de citronnelle. Pour moi cette bière me rappelle plus une bonne black IPA.
Tried
on 17 Jan 2011
at 20:39
6.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7
Bottle shared by Shane, thanks! Poured a turbid brown with a large light brown head that lasted throughout the beer. Aroma had a slight odd sour note with a nice rye note and then plenty of dark grains. There was also a nice pine hop note as well. Flavor began with a slight pine start and became full of dark grains with a nice rye presence.
Tried
from Bottle
on 27 Oct 2010
at 10:50
7.4/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Clear amber with a large beige head. Hoppy aroma with pine, grapefruits and lemons. Flavour had plenty of hops, pine, grapefruits and lemons. Finished dry and bitter.
Tried
on 09 Sep 2010
at 14:46
8.3/10
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Appearance 10
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Bottle via in person trade with jcwattsrugger. Many thanks! Pours dark muddy brown with thick tan head. Nose of brown sugar, rye and oatmeal. Taste is dark caramel malts, brown sugar, oatmeal and slightly spiced rye.
Tried
from Bottle
on 13 Jul 2010
at 13:19