Deschutes Sagefight Imperial IPA

Citrusy hops go head to head with resinous sage and juniper in a flavor battle royale.

Malt Pale, Crystal, Munich

Hops Millennium, Bravo, Amarillo, Centennial

Other Sage, Juniper Berries

3.5

155 reviews

Bend, United States

Community reviews

3.9 The thing about sagefight is that the bilious malthusians do not want you to enjoy it. They had cleared the shelves of the stuff and I went to store after store trying to find one, but I was unsuccessful. I found one hidden behind some chainbreaker and jumped for joy, until I tasted it...WTF. This has sage in it. Who puts sage in a beer and how I was I supposed to know that there was sage in here? The aroma smells like an awesome NWNA forest in spring after a rainstorm. The hops are bountiful and aromatic and tasty. It’s sticky and oily and heavy on alcohol, both in taste and feeling. My heart beats for you sagefight.

3.7 Nearly clear amber pour with a one finger, creamy to fluffy off white head. Aroma is definitely loaded with juniper and sage, notable juicy and spicy citrus, caramel, biscuit and a hint of brown sugar. Flavor is Sharp juniper piney notes up front, bitter and juicy citrus, dusty grain, bread crust, caramel, earthy, spicy hops, the flavor of sage is sort of omnipresent, but doesn’t really stick out at any stage. Medium body, kinda slick entry, light, but blanketing and sharp carbonation. Really tasty, but really odd.

3.3 Tastes like drinking a pine forest. Seriously. Like, with every sip I worried about getting a splinter in my lip.

3.0 Pours a hazy golden amber color with a beautiful two finger off white cream color head. The aroma is somewhat hoppy and what I would assume juniper and sage but I am unaware of what their smells are. The flavor is also similar with some breadiness in there and finishes with a pine resin hop bite on the back end.

3.7 Appearance: clear pale to medium amber with one finger of fluffy ivory head, good retention and moderate lacing. (4/5) Aroma: herbal sage, juniper berries, resiny pine, caramel malt, citrus, earth. (7/10) Taste: moderate sweet, moderate-high bitter. (7/10) Palate: medium-full slightly slick body, moderate carbonation, dry building bitter and mildly warming finish. (4/5) Well, it’s certainly not refreshing, light, or crisp - but that’s not to say it doesn’t have its own attractions. Sage and juniper battle for first place, and both are clearly distinct from a resiny pine note - but all combine to provide a deeply dank overall character. There’s actually so much resiny spice that there’s a bit of retronasal burn, and the citrus is a long way behind the more savoury notes. However, the dryness of the finish goes a long way towards preventing it from being heavy or ponderous. This would go great with turkey dinner, in fact. Interesting, well-made, and reasonably well-balanced for what it is. (15/20) 7.5/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com

4.1 Aroma is resinous danky hops. Pine. Spicy aroma from sage and juniper. A touch more and it would be medicinal and offputting. Appearance is slightly hazy copper with eggshell foam. Quickly receding. Good lacing. Flavor is piney hops and moderate bitterness. Alcohol can be perceived with some slight residual sweetness from caramel malts. Overall a fairly dry finish for double IPA. Residual bitterness and sweetness merging nicely in aftertaste. No harshness or astringency. The spicy flavors from juniper and sage are complimented nicely by bitterness. Mouthfeel - medium full body. Moderate carbonation. Slight alcohol warmth. Overall this is a great imperial IPA. Very drinkable, fairly dry and the risky spicy additions pull it off beautifully. This is a Norwegian double IPA if Norway invented DIPA. Very interesting take.

3.9 Gewürziger Antrunk, süßlich, Rosmarin. Erstaunlicherweise steigert sich dies noch deutlich vor dem Hopfen, harzig, harmonisch. Geringe Bitterkeit, vollmundig, extrem süffig. Fantastisch! 10/14/12/12//12

3.8 Deep copper with heavy lacing. Nose is dank, resinous hops and pine, with heavy caramel malts. Taste is dry and bitter. Flavors of resinous pine, with juniper prevalent over hops and sage.

3.9 12 oz. bottle from hayduke that we had together via facebook chat. Amber in color with just a little haze. A beige heads turns rocky. Pine and juniper aroma. First sip has the juniper dominating. It is dry, spicy, and earthy. Sage is also noted. This has a lot going on but manages it all quite nicely. The alcohol is hidden but can be felt. Towards the finish I got more sage. Pine was always there but never big, just kind of a back bone hop. I like this. It is tasty and very unique. Well brewed.

3.9 Shared with Strykzone on Facebook Chat. Pours amber with an off-white head. Nose of juniper, along with citrus, pine, and floral hops. Medium body. Resinous mouthfeel. Flavor is juniper first and then the other hops. Finishes bitter with sage. Quite complex and good tasting. Drinks nicely and hides the 8%. I like it.

2.8 Smells better than it tastes. Sage is difficult to balance in cooking, much less brewing. About as herby a beer as you can tolerably drink. Tried at the Omaha Extreme Beerfest in 2017.

3.4 12 oz bottle pours amber with a off white head. Aroma of citrus, sage and caramel. Taste is sage, resins and caramel.

3.1 Pours a hazy ruby red. Aroma of sage and hops. Taste is sweet with flavor of berry and spice.

3.6 Bottle, Ann Arbor, MI via Plum Market. Medium amber. Active carbonation. Sweet herbal citrus aroma. Medium body. Sharp. Real vegetable in the background. Long honey resin finish.

3.3 12oz bottle from the Malt Shoppe in Tosa. Amber pour with little head. Aroma has big herbal hops, some fruit, some pine and juniper. Taste is of herbal hops, juniper, tangy fruit, sprucy pine. Medium bodied, quite sticky and the blend is decent, but no better. Finishes tangy herbal sweet. Shrug? A bit of a one-hit, holiday-ish, herbal wonder. Not to my taste. 13.2

4.0 Aromas of strong sage, herbs, rosemary, caramel, earth, hop oils, golden malt syrup, tangerine, apricot and malt funk. Pours copper with a thin white foam and moderate lacing. Taste brings refreshing yet strong sage overtones. Mid palate brings pines, herbs, earth, bitter hops, hop oils, resin and slight tangerine. Finishes bitter with residual sage and booze. Overall, the sage really makes this beer. It makes it stand out from the rest with a solid hop profile.

3.4 Hazy orange with a small thick head. Light pine and citrus aroma. Earthy, citrusy flavors. Full bodied. Decent but unremarkable.

3.7 Pours a copper color with a soft white head. Herbal, sage aroma. Moderately sweet, moderate malt body, significant herbal (sage dominated) flavor with some light berry undertones and an earthy botanical finish. It’s definitely an IPA, but the herbal qualities are quite overt. Notes: Bottle from Tucson, Feb ’17.

2.8 Bottle shared by Brian. Pours lightly hazy amber, small off-white head, dissipates quickly, some lacing. Aroma is caramel, sage, pine. Flavor is medium sweet, medium bitter, caramel and pine, herbal notes. Medium body, some what harsh and a bit hot. Liking the sage and juniper, but the underlying IPA was too sweet and harsh.

3.6 On tap @ Choice Market. Pours slightly hazy amber orange with medium creamy off-white head. Aroma is big floral sage, juniper, and cedar; funky dank hops on the back. Truly smells like a forest! Taste is somewhat muddy sweet caramel malt, plenty of those same floral woody hop aromas here though less so than the nose. Ok. Not great balance here, or flavors you’d want to drink a lot of. Hard to understand how this beer lives on, and the vastly superior Hop Henge has been discontinued.

3.5 Luminous orange-amber body with a creamy taupe head. Delicious juniper berry and sage nose with some prickly hop bitterness. Medium-bodied with the earthyness of sage dominating, but with the spicy berry notes of juniper rounding out out nicely. Some herbal tannins encroach the palate with muted hop bitterness. Sour herbal finish

3.6 Gin-like aroma, I can definitely smell the juniper berries. The sage is there as well with some tangerine/mandarin orange hops. Burnt orange color with a huge cream colored head. Tastes like everything from the aroma but the citrus is missing. Heavy juniper, aftertaste is sage and piney hops. Strong palate, level of carbonation is spot on. Kind of a mess, but worth trying. I would recommend a single bottle; a sixer of this would probably be too much.

2.8 12oz bottle from HEB. Pours clear dark gold/amber with a thick offwhite head, strong lacing. Big sage character on the nose, juniper comes through on the flavor. average carbonation, medium bitterness, mild sweetness. the sage is pretty overpowering in the aroma of this beer and I would prefer them to dial it back a bit and let the hops they used in the beer come through more. If they balanced out the herbs/spices this would be an ex excellent food beer.

2.2 Bottle. So dark it’s almost an amber, with a shallow, sticky, mixed-grained, off-white head. Nose is, predictably, juniper and sage, along with lavender and Granny Smith apple. On the tongue -- holy crap. That’s a big hot herbal mess. I don’t care for it, but I can see how this would be one of those beers that a very small percentage of beer nerds would go gaga over. It’s much more floral than I expected; the juniper and sage are all on the back end. It’s like a sweat lodge as envisioned by Mary Kay, with a finish that tastes like I licked baby powder. I’m going to rate this subjectively, but understand that if you have a serious jones for huge, floral, herbal things, this might be just the ticket.

3.4 Bottle. Orange golden pour with a huge head. Grapefruit, sage, herbs. Sharp bitterness. Slightly boozy.

3.1 355 ML bottle Ruby amber color, white hear that falls to a thin collar. Strips of lacing nose is sage, juniper, pine and citrus. Herbs have really taken over at this point. Herbal and citrus in the mouth. Lots of sage and juniper and backing citrus and pine. Does get really herbal towards the back. Some oil and resin. Medium carbonation, slower sipper due to the amount of herbs in this. Interesting enough and was worth the shot. When in harmony it is pretty decent. When all herbs it is a bit rough.

3.4 Bottle. Amber beer with a dark cream head. Grapefruit and light sage aroma. Sage and light gin flavor with grapefruit. Medium bodied. Good bitterness. Grapefruit and light pine lingers with sage.

3.6 I’ve had herb-infused IPA’s before, and I’m generally not a big fan. The added herbs either get totally pushed into the background by the hops or they’re almost obnoxiously prominent. Deschutes has landed the meticulous balance with Sagefight. Interestingly, there’s very little "fighting" as far as the aromatic and flavor profiles are concerned. There’s a hugely herbaceous nose, and the flavor is a cohesive blend of piney American hops and herbal (but not remotely medicinal) juniper and sage. This ends up tasting like sage-dusted Christmas tree needles. That may not sound like a ringing endorsement, but it absolutely is one.

3.2 TGG, Seattle. White, low cream on amber-orange clearish body. Earthy, spruce tip nose, and sage, presumably. Sweet, syrupy IPA. Fruity herbs. Earthy hop undertones. A bit fizzy at finish. Flavors are nice, but fizzy-sweet base isn’t great.

3.7 Bottle. A- Sage, juniper, pine, citrus, A- Copper color, clear liquid, off white head. T- Pine, juniper, sage, bitter. P- Full body, average texture, average carbonation, bitter finish. O- I’m not normally a fan of DIPA’s but I do love my sage. This beer turned out quite well. Definitely tons of sage and a gin like juniper flavor along with loads of bitterness. A touch of citrus from the hops as well. Something different for sure.