[750ml bottle, 2005 vintage, signed by brewers] The cork was very well embedded. Rich dark caramel aroma, something like mushroom and/or wood, along with floral hop, and some dark fruit. Warm darkish amber copper color with virtually no head (what there was, was a passing beige). Mild carbonation; medium body. Earthy, dark fruit notes. Brown sugary toasted malt. Some citrus oil. The alcohol is quite warming. Finally some lighter stone fruit and floral bits are detectable. The finish is somewhat dry, and peppery spicy hints creep in. Remnants of earthy, woody notes. The mouth tingles. Definitely marvelous.

Draft at the Pelican. Clear darkish brown color with beige head. Aroma of toasted malt with stone fruit. Toasted malt with stone fruit to start. Background of a darker, porter style toasted malt. Finish is fruit, light toasted malt, very light, but little bitter. Still, it’s very good to drink.

Draft at the Pelican. Rich malt and fruit aromas. Reddish tinged amber color with a white head. Thin to medium bodied. Sees to start with peach or some sort of stone fruit, accompanied by melon. Malt is quite light for the style. It is refreshing in the mouth, but the finish seems a bit bland with no bitter.

Draft at the Pelican. Light amber color with a white head. Citrus hop aroma, perhaps with a hint of pine. Lots of resin. Starts with pine, some backing malt. Medium body. Citrus follows, but for me it’s strongly hop. Nice clean bitter finish. Pine seems to last longest.

Draft at the Pelican. Light floral hop aroma. Bright golden color with a white head that leaves fine lacing. Starts with lightly sweet stone fruit, very fresh. Floral aspects. Very light bitter finish. Tasty.

Draft at the Pelican. Light fruit aroma. Pale golden color with a substantial white head. Interesting flavor. Not banana, more of a Belgian Wit. (and look at the style above; not what I expected). Spicey, yeasty, like cardamom and coriander. Makes me think a bit of Fraoch Heather Ale for some reason. Seems to be some citrus peel bitter in the finish, but perhaps it could be hop. Quite unusual.

Draft at the Pelican. Light malt aroma, perhaps with a bit of hop. Brassy gold color with a white head. Medium bodied. Starts with wheat, has some citrus sour, malty sweetness and enough bitter to fairly balance the malt. A bit wheaty in the finish. Nice bitter remnants in the mouth.

Bright burgundy colour. Rich molasses aroma with some dark rhum, fig and burnt orange. Strong carbonation strips some of the flavours and much of the sweetness from the tongue. Quite sweet, plum, date, fig, brown sugar.

Bottle: Pours a transparent orange with lots of off white head, nice lacing. Nose of citrus and floral hops with a bit of sweet. Taste is hoppy, citrus and floral, grapefruit, malt, and pine. Very tastey PNW IPA.

3 pints in an hour at Redbones on 11/22/06
It’s like the most over-the-top beer you hated to love. Insane amounts of aroma and flavor hops to match the IBUS. Nope, never harsh like DA says. Improving upon the wonderful Rogue Impy pils. Less alcohol (much less) and more attenuation, with even better aromatics.
The color was a nearly opaque, light, strawberry-amber. Very hazy. Oh and the keg must have been conditioned, because even on tap the carbonation was tight and frothy, almost creamy, very natural.
Very Dry and not exactly balanced, but sterling hops seem a lot more tolerable in unbalanced amounts than high AA hops. Though I can’t help wondering how much more refreshing and drinkable it would be if they halved the IBUs....Malt wise, it adds a touch of honey, with ample texture, but it’s not really a factor of the malt being too much/too little. For this beer to remain at this gravity and be drinkable, there’s no way any malt bill could balance these IBUs. Needs less hops. It’s fun to put 420 lbs of hops in, but if you’re looking at it more as a well-brewed beer and less of a science/hippy project, I think it’s pretty obvious that far less hops would suffice.