Goose Island Imperial IPA
Traditionally, there are a lot of rules when it comes to brewing great beer. The fact that American craft brewers have broken those rules to produce some of the world’s finest beers is downright heroic. At Goose Island we live and die by hops, so breaking the rules meant pushing the hop limit to the extreme to create this monster Imperial IPA. We took three of our favorite hops, TETTNANG, SIMCOE, and CASCADE, and balanced their spiciness with tons of malt. Them we went back and dumped in MORE HOPS and more malt until this beer was exploding with flavor...strong enough to wake the dead and filled with more bitterness than a woman scorned. This Imperial IPA is absolutely gigantic, you’ll smell the hops from about a yard away. What will surprise you is how incredibly drinkable it is. Pair it up with the saltiest blue cheese you can find, and go nuts.
4
641 reviews
Chicago, United States
Community reviews
Quite nice - draft at Harry’s in IAD airport. Amber on color,
Nice white head with lots of white lacing. Nice nose,
Lots of hops and flavor. A touch sweet, then a nice bitter finish.
Nice aroma of a blend of hops...some piney, some more floral. Nice hazy ambe with creamy light-tan head. Perfect sweet caramel, malty tones...but the bitterness is muted, but still satisfies. Finishes balanced, slightly sweet, slightly bitter with some alcohol burn. Was expecting more hop punch but a solid offering. This was a bottle sample will try a draft and compare.
Draft at Coffee District in Delray Beach. American pint glass. Pours a golden amber with slight haze and white thick head. The aroma explodes with malts, pine, citrus, fresh cut grass and resin. The taste is actually a little less explosive but certainly packs a punch. The overall taste is the pine and citrus hops that have been well balanced by the malts. The aftertaste of lemon, grasses and caramel are quite nice. Packs quite a punch!
Very much scent. The taste is much too. Long good taste that never ends. A beer you must try.
Draft at taps 25. Honey colored with smallish white head. Honey and hops aroma. Weird flavor. No idea why this is rated so high.
Om tap at The Gingerman in NYC, very nice pub!! Hoppy, malty (sweet) but a nice bitter finish!
0.33 l bottle in Toronto. Boring and untasteful IPa...
Tap at Top Hops. Pour hazy amber with fluffy dissipating head.. moderate lacing. Aroma is pine, citrus, floral hops. Taste is grapefruit zest, pine, bitter hops with very dry, bitter finish. Mouthfeel was a bit oily.. medium body. A very good imperial.. not the best.
Hazy amber/orange color; Medium slightly creamy body; Aroma of caramel malt, pine hops, floral, & citrus; Flavor of slight sweet malt, nice caramel/toffee, pine hops, some fruit, and citrus; Finish is fairly bitter; Nicely balanced; Very good DIPA.
Delicious IPA, keep on keeping on, beautiful color and fin drink with friends.
Sample at the Goose Island tap takeover at World of Beer Brewery District on 11/21/12. Clear amber pour with a thick off-white head. Malty and orangy nose with pine notes and some grapefruit. Malty flavor with some slight smoke and orange before a grapefruit finish.
Draft - pours hazy crimson orange, medium fizz fluff cream head, mostly diminishing. Aromas of orange, resin, pine, big hops. Taste is creamy orange, nice bitter hops, touch of candied sweet malts. Medium full creamy palate and lingering smooth finish. Good IIPA. Would like it a bit more bitter.
On tap, pours a very murky brown orange color with small creamy head, nice streaks of lacing left behind. Aromas and taste are very cheesy hoppy but in a weird way, almost artificial cheese with an odd stale, wet, wood bitterness. Other notes of some nuts, light malt, pine and cheap cheddar. Maybe the brewery is finally starting their descent into terrible beers from the inbev sellout. This batch is nowhere near the older reviews. Very dry finish with a not so good aftertaste. Something is just off about this beer, the hops do not work together and its ultra unbalanced. Disappointing.
On tap at Pinocchio’s. Orange, amber pour, head and lacing apparent. Huge hoppy nose. Lots of all different hop flavors...very complex. Herbal, resinous hops dominate, with plenty of pine and citrus. Plenty "spicy". Good beer but a tad too herbal for me.
Tap at Iron Horse. Pours based deep orange with a persistent creamy buttermilk head. Excellent head. Nose is vanilla custard and cheesecloth. Some sharp gin character. Taste is mega nutty, very cheesy and fatty, moving to heavy dust and wood. Some mild smokey savoriness. Palate is mega dry. Alcohol content is dangerous.
On tap at Uncle Mikes. Pours golden orange with a white head leaving spotty lacing. Aroma has grapefruit ... and grapefruit. Some sweetness way back. Taste is of citrus and resin. Some toffee underneath for what was a really nice balance. Finishes bitter with some sweetness and some lasting - it was mostly bitter. Grapefruit juice-y. Shrug? Sure I would have it again sometime.
some kind of dusty aroma, with a huge hints of plums and raisins. Heavy and sugary, with tastes of raisins, fruit and maybe some tiny hint of smoke and burn. Good DIPA
On tap at Dexters, pours a clear dark amberish orange with a creamy off white head, aroma is of tangerines, grapefruit and fresh hops, flavor wasn't as exciting as the Aroma, some citrus in the finish, kind of leaves your mouth dry , not bad.
4 oz sample at Waldo Pizza. Pours a clear copper color. Aroma of tangerine, citrus, pine. Flavor is citrus, mango, cherry, sweetart. Extremely Hop forward, but lacks that harsh bitterness.
Don’t know what took me so long to get this one, but it’s great. Big piney resinous hops through the palate which a crisp finish that only gets slightly sweet. Hints of citrus as well. It’s very refreshing while being very big, an IPA well done.
Very smooth Imperial IPAs, as the best usually are. Classic murky dark orange color with a thin creamy head. Taste is somewhat hoppy and reminds me of honey every sip. Supporting notes of orange and spice, and a little malty. I honestly prefer the IPA but this is solid.
Lots and lots of hops which is great. Interesting almost smokey flavor with a bit of spice. Think that is from the tettnang. Tastes of a campfire made of pine needles. Interesting.
Draft at iTap-Soulard for the Goose Island stout invasion, served in a Goose Island logo wine-type of glass. Pours a cloudy but bright orange with gold highlights and a small barely off-white head. Aroma of pine, grapefruit and orange peel, sweet malts, and a strong, resinous bitterness. The flavor ratchets up the bitterness to an aggressive level, with a rubber-like flavor throughout, along with pine resin, rubbing alcohol, citrus peel, and mixed malts. Medium-bodied, with a bitter, phenolic mouthfeel and moderate carbonation. Really aggressive. Not the worst DIPA I’ve had, but very disappointing.
Draft. Pours dark gold/copper with a nice white head, good lacing/retention. Aroma of pine, citrus, light cheese, toffee. Taste is super bitter, light booze, resin, pine, toffee, quite smokey for a DIPA. Palate is oily, average carbonation, bitter finish. My GF described it as tasting/smelling like gym socks, which was not far off. May have been an older keg.
July 18, 2012 on tap at Sugar Maple. It was dark but looked to be a dark orange pour with some head and lacing. Aroma and taste were just like you would expect a double to be. A tad more bitter than I prefer, but this was very well done. Nice mouthfeel and the finish was clean. Totally geeked that I was able to stumble upon this bad boy.
Draft at Churchkey. Dark amber pour with a medium sized white head. Nose and flavor are both malt forward, with nice notes of sweet grapefruit, orange zest, and even a touch of mango and guava, but also with definite malt characters of caramel and perceptible booze. Also a strange subtle smokiness on the tongue. Pretty good, but not all that impressive.
2007 bottle. Orange color. Very little aroma left. Not much head. Cloudy. Still very bitter for its age. Like a light 120 minute. I had high hopes but it's a solid dipa.
Spicy citrus aroma. Peppers and citrus fruit slighly black pepper. Reddish gold..ring of white foam with slight head. Easy to drink spicy citrus. Nice and clean. Good not great.
On tap. It has a noticeable almost smokiness to it. It isn’t too bitter and the hops used aren’t that distinguished with that over hanging off-taste.
On tap at Beer Geeks Pub in Northwest Indiana. Pours a beautiful hazy orange color with a small head. Smells of a resiny citrus with small vanilla, carmel, and floral notes. Taste is a lot of tangerine and mango, along with some fruity floral notes. The carmel malts smooths it out a lot, but still more on the hoppy side so it is not as balanced as some other imperial ipas. It is between a medium and full, oily body. Definitely made for a "hophead" like myself. Taste lingers somewhat, but not as much as I thought it would. Glad they brought this back. Overall, a good, hoppy imperial ipa.