beer_name: XS Imperial India Pale Ale
text: Poured from 12oz bottle(room temp) a hazy light gold with lots of carbonation and a huge head of foam that grew in my goblet until it almost overflowed. When it finally does settle down, it leaves a fine layer with some lacing. The smell is very hoppy, bitter hoppy with some fruity tones, mostly grapefruit, there as well. The taste is very big on hops up front with strong bitterness but there's a bit of malt in the background that comes through and it tries to tame or at least balance out the hops but it's only partially successful. This one is *still* all about the hops even though the 12ozer(XS series) is probably a couple of years old and then.. there's the 9.20% abv. It is noticeable but doesn't "burn". Bottom line: This is a good cold weather sipper that's worth buying from time to time. Edit: 2004 12oz bottle courtesy of rpohagan. I poured the beer into my NB goblet and it is a cloudy dark gold/red that when I hold up my glass to a light, I cannot see the light at all. A nice 1" head of foam here with superb lacing. The smell is...oh so inviting with a still massive hop aroma of pine and citrus grapefruits and a bordering on maybe crossing the line of some tropical fruitiness. There's some nice sweet notes from the malt here as well that figure in just right considering how long this has been cellaring and grows in intensity the more whiffs I take. The taste is different than what I expected from the smell. The malt brings a buttload of caramel sweetness tempered by *very* light and I do mean *VERY* light bitterness that is just that....bitterness. No signs to me of any real citrus or pine or tropical fruits...just plain old bitterness pure and simple and the balance it creates with the malt is in a word, superb! Bottom line here is that I had no clue as to what ~7 years would do to this DIPA so what I'm finding is surprising the hell out of me. For the most part it is medium bodied thinning out some towards the finish and it has ample carbonation. Drinkability? Time did wonders with that. Fresh, I found it too hot as many others did. This cellared bottle was one of the easiest to drink big abv brews I have ever had. If you have any of these bad boys in your "cellar", give one a go right now. A: 4.5 S: 4.5 T: 4.5 M: 4.0 D: 4.5