Dark opaque berar with a nice resilient moka head. The nice thing here is the aroma evolved as the beer warmed up...initially smeeld of hops and cinnamon herts, but then the aroma evolved to chocolate and vanilla moka...wow. Bitter chocolate chunks linger in the mouth with a sweet aftertaste, creamy and full bodied. 3 spoges for this baby which goes well with a bleu.

2003 bomber. This is about as borderline double IPA/ regular IPA as it gets. Anyways it’s incredible. Wonderful Orange, red, golds, all the good stuff you want to see. Hazy, small white head, sediment and tons of lacing. Smells extremely juicy of nice rich, fresh hops. I just love when it seems like you can almost taste the soil these hops grow in. Mineralesque, fresh, bitter (of course) lovely. Elegant floral smell and flowery, creamy body. Finish is about as balanced as it gets without being too neutral. Great malt sweetness gives just the right amount of balance to a slightly more dominant hops. Man it’s so hard rating these very top tier IPAs, they are all so magnificent. Medium full bodied and an interesting nutty, chewiness at the end of every sip. 2004 draught @ sunset grill. Still as good as I remember. Juicy, huge depth of hops, very sweet, but balanced, somewhat more watery on draft and less aromatic, but to be expected from the keg.
2004 bomber Blind tasting. Previously being my favorite IPA, I picked this as second after the Smutty, which I had never tried before. Huge amounts of citrus in the nose, but it’s a rounder, juicier, lighter sort of citrus; like sweet mandarin oranges. Very juicy and quite watery, with only a medium body. Some light toffee notes in the background, but not quite the balance I’m lookin for. Though, for a West Coast IPA, they do not overdo the hops, which is probably why I enjoy it so much. I generally don’t care for most West Coast IPAs. Light yellow-gold color, hazy with a large white head.

October 2005 draught at Publick House. A chil-hazed honey to marigold looking beer, with a fluffy white head, great retention and lacing. Smells of unripened tangerines, tart lemons and some tea leaves, with a bit of herbacious essences and finally some sweet honey/pale malts. Still a stand-out aroma, I think. Flavor is dry, perfumey, citric and very well balanced. Does get a bit too strong with the hops bitterness and lightly syrupy-sweet malt though, in the end. Still the hops profile is rich and flavorful and the malt, while not the most exquisite, is nonetheless very well done. Same score.

03 Bottle. One of the best looking beers I've seen. Reddish brown mahogany, bright but wavy. Tons of sediment due to bottle conditioning. Very hazy. Big rich yellow-beige head. Incredible amount of lacing. Smells of lots of bittersweet hops, maybe the slightest bit of scotch-like aroma. Flavor is mostly hoppy (pretty high alpha content) but has a well balanced medium dry caramel malt backbone. Creamy texture. Finish is clean and surprisingly not that bitter. Touch of light roasted barley. I almost think there is a touch of scotch-like alcohol flavor, but I might just be thinking that. Spicy, full, balanced and very very drinkable. The flavor could stand to be a bit more complex, however.

Pine aroma, with hints of syrup - full mouthfeel, lots of grapefruit - bitterness at the end balances the initial sweetness well.

This is some good stuff - certain elements remind me of Arrogant Bastard - lots of malts, but not overly sweet, still plenty of hops in the mix - caramel and chocolate - tasty and heavy.