Grand Teton Pursuit of Hoppiness
Pursuit of Hoppiness was brewed to showcase the brash beauty of American hops: Summit, Simcoe, Chinook and Nuggets at 100 International Bitterness Units (IBU). It was brewed with Idaho 2-Row malted barley and German specialty malts to provide a rich, slightly caramel flavor and bold reddish color. At 22 degrees Plato starting gravity and about 8% alcohol by volume, this is a perfect autumn beer, thick and warming, to be shared and savored on a crisp fall evening.
3.6
285 reviews
Victor, United States
Community reviews
Pours two fingers of head on a cloudy dark straw body.
The aroma is dark grains, wood and caramel.
The taste has a big bitter bite at first, that is quickly tamed by the caramel sweetness, finishes with a mild bitter note. Great profile.
The texture is thicker.
Nice.
Pours a deep red color with a khaki head. Hop, toffee, caramel, malt and light citrus aroma. Caramel, toffee, grapefruit, pine, hop and malt flavors. Medium full body and average carbonation. Good bitterness and a caramel and hop finish.
Tap at New Bohemia. Smallish pint glass sporting a very attractive deep orange colored beer. Nice lacing. Good marks on appearance here. Aroma is hoppy but has sweet notes. Smell is very reminiscent of other imperial IPAs. Taste is plenty of hops with an alcohol presence. Some malty characteristics offset the hops to a certain extent. Nothing all that unique but I’m more likely to sample this again than watch that Will Smith movie for a second time.
"overpriced, yes, but this was one tasty brew. pretty dark amber color. bright hoppy aroma with a strong but balanced caramel and sweet malt profile. piney hops, grapefruit, and more sweetness in the flavor. very well done, but with a pricetag well into the dbl digits, this may have to be a one timer."
This is from a couple-year-old bottle and I am not sure how much that affected the quality of it. Beautiful beer to behold with a thick cream-colored long-lasting head lots of lace and a clear reddish dark amber color. Aroma is heavy resin hop and malt. Flavor is pretty good lots of malt to counter the heavy hop, carbonic tang is on the low side and there's a slight medicinal aftertaste. Body isn't bad except for it's just a little too soft for my preferences. Not a bad Imperial red but want not one of my favorites.
From a 75 cl bottle shared at home on Easter Sunday. Pours a clear amber with an ecru head. Flavors of toasted nuts. Bitter hop finish.
Tap at new bohemia. Copper with nice white lacing. Hop and alcohol aroma. Dry bitterness with sweet as alcohol. Get lots of different hop elements. Solid beer but not good enough for this style.
Pours a deep amber with a thick creamy head. Hops and malt, delicious. I'm impressed with this brewery.
Dark amber, nice head and lacing. Malty strong flavor. More malt than hops to me. Good but too strong malt for me.
A hazy reddish-brown beer with a small beige head. The aroma is slightly spruce with a sweet fruit or candy and rich malt. The flavor is initially caramel with pine and lemon following.
Hoppy and malty aroma, brilliant ruby color and great balanced flavor. Tried from a bottle, would love to try on tap or at brewery!
Bottled: 1/14/11 (dunno why the lapse in distro)
A: Pours a red, red beer. Single finger peanut head slowly falls to a medium sheet of the same. Clarity is brilliant even from the get go. Sheets of lace as the beer warms, initially nada.
S: Plenty of hops on this. But not as PNW as I had anticipate. The profile trades in the resin, weed, pine and earth for the cotton candy, sweet citrus and lightly floral hop characters. There’s also a prominent vienna, caramel malt profile amidst this one. Good nose even at two months (I think distro lapse was likely related to their commitment to bottle conditioning).
T: This is red. This is imperial. Plenty of hops up front, again, a bit sweet, but this time I think it’s from the ABV rather than the hop profile. The resin comes into play now. Sharp on the palate without burning, almost a pine cone/sap flavor (don’t ask how I know). Again, plenty of malt to help back this one up - typical of the style and true as such. Nice. As it warms, becomes more balanced and almost reminds me of a beefed up Marzen.
M: Creamy, medium to heavy body with low carb for the style. I wonder if this batch needed a little more priming addition for appropriate carbing. Leaves a slight slick on the palate and tongue.
O: this beer was originally released as part of the brewer’s reserve and during their 20th anniversary. At the time, the beer was made with a little more hop character and the yeast was more prominent. The original was intended to highlight one ingredient to reinheitsgebot: hops. It fit the profile, and is exceptionally memorable. Is this as good? No. Is it a good beer? Yes. I would like to try a little closer to bottle date, but given the conditions it was stored, I can’t see too much of the hops having died by now. I also think this would age into a hybrid English/American BW with a year on it.
Serving type: bottle
03-21-2011
Poured from a 12 ounce bottle, thanks to Ed. Pours a cloudy amber with a quickly dissipating head. The aroma is chewy caramel malts, hint of toffee, pine and fruit hops. The flavor is caramel, malty, slight toast notes, a hint of chocolate in the finish. The hop profile is American, resinous, some citrus, pine. I am not sure how to feel about these red IPAs. Not bad, just a little sweet in the finish.
Citrus/apple fruit, caramel malt, herbal aroma. Citrus, spicy hop flavor, with sweet, caramel, and little apple/cheery. I like the caramel malt flavor better than the aroma. Seems kind of low in carbonation? (Bottled 3/20/13; drank 12/1/13)
Delightfully bitter, rich and crisp. This beer is my new favorite red, and could be fast becoming my second favorite ID brewery.
FROM NOTES: July 20, ’12
Poured from a bomber into a tulip.
A: Citrus hops with grapefruit leading the way. Some pine as well. Also some sweet caramel notes. Maybe rye?
A: Hazy brownish red color. About one finger of head that dissipated quickly. Gray lacing with average retention.
T: Strong flavor. Light citrus hops, orange and grapefruit leading the way. Also rye, iced tea and orange rines.
P: Medium body. Oily texture. Average carbonation. Long lasting bitter finish.
O: Decent beer, slightly above average, I would love to try again.
Pours hazy dark rust with quickly dissipating off-white head. Some yeast friendlies hanging about. Sweet doughy bread on the nose with hints of caramel. Pronounced fruit hop sweetness up front with some caramel undertone. Not nearly as bitter as I anticipated. Bready. Wooden. Thick, smooth, somewhat sticky. Pleasant brew.
Bottled on March 20, 2013, about 6 months. Pours a dark orange with a hint of reddish brown and a thin veneer of off white fizz. The aroma is more caramel toasted bread malt with a little fruitiness and light wooden stalk herbal hop thing. The flavor is nice and full with a little caramel and strawberry coming through the bready toasted auburn malts. The hops are much more mild than when I had this fresh but it is still fitting, a light earthy wooden dried pine with some pleasant herbal qualities and a light grassy element. Lower carbonation helps it go down smooth but doesn’t quite have the sparkling punch to match the grain body. It’s bottle conditioned so I’m sure some other bottles are more appropriately carbonated. Still very enjoyable and tasty.
Classic big american red. Red color, dense body, sweet nose, big resinous piney hop flavor balanced with malt sweetness.
12 oz bottle. Bottled on 8/13/13; about 2 months old. Aroma is grapefruit, caramel, earthy. Pours hazy copper with lots of floaties. Has a medium beige head with good retention. Taste is bittersweet with an emphasis on bitter. Flavors of bread, citrus. Body is medium, carbonation average. Not bad, but those floaties are really unappetizing.
-- rated with beerbasher/winphone
Rich amber/ruby color; Medium slightly creamy body; Aroma of toasted malt, spicy hops, & some citrus; Flavor of slight sweet malt, pine hops, caramel, and fruit/citrus; Nicely balanced; Not too bad.
Pours a deep deep orange and leaves excellent lacing down the glass.
Smells of citrus/tropical fruits with some heavy caramel malt backing it up.
Taste follows the nose. Heavy caramel notes throughout. Citrus, tropical fruits and some pineapple really cut through all this malt leaving a resiny lingering finish.
Mouthfeel and carb are average for this style.
One of the better Imperial Ambers I’ve ever had. It reminded me a lot of Nugget Nectar. It’s got a lot of caramel malt, but the hops are definitely high enough to make their presence known. Fantastic beer.
Aroma is caramel malts, pine and fruit. The flavor is grapefruit, caramel/toffee, mild sweetness and a tangy/dry finish.
Growler from Charleston Beer Exchange on 03/12/2011 courtesy of BrewEngineer. Clear copper body with a small creamy off-white head. Sweet caramel and resiny hop aroma. Big caramel, resiny hop and light citrus aroma with some dry grainy bitter in the finish. Medium body with moderate carbonation. 8/3/7/3/15 - 3.6
On tap at Coleman Public House on 02/25/2011.
Clear deep amber body with ruby highlights. Medium frothy off-white head. Sweet floral and light resiny hop aroma. Sweet floral and resiny hop flavor with a smooth caramel background. Medium body with moderate carbonation. 7/4/7/4/15 - 3.7
Poured from a bottle (without the fancy tin foil showed in the picture) into a 1970’s 6oz. Old Style glass. If I was in the pursuit of hoppiness that search ended on my floor where I just about ended up on after the first drink, it was a head shaker. Very thick and tasty, I’m learning to appreciate the flavor of the brewing process but I still don’t taste any of the detailed stuff I read in previous reviews. Maybe I need to start chewing on tree bark or eating dirt so I have something to draw from, I dunno. All I can say is good is good and this is great, and after 4 bottles I’m in pursuit of pizza.
Hazy yellowish color with a big white head. Sticky malts and some resinous hops. Citrus flavors, grassy...but a but messy and muddled.
Bottle poured into a tulip. Murky caramel brown, stiff 2-finger khaki head. Timid aromas of woody, weedy hops, also strawberry chapstick and cheesy B.O. Tastes sweetish and earthy, with tart tomato and plastic and hairspray phenols. Lingering tannic bitterness. Strange palate- velcro tackiness tempered by buttery softness... sticky on the lips yet sandpapery dry and astringent on the tongue. Mild aftertaste suggests toffee and Jagermeister. Where the f##k are the hops? Tastes like one of those muddy "organic" beers made only with ingredients they can find in the parking lot dumspter, and that includes yeast. A failure in all respects.
Pours a hazy copper-amber into the glass, with a nice sustaining cap that leaves thick soapy lacing. The nose is of caramel, citrusy-melon fruits, pine, with a hint of grassy floral notes. The flavors are similar, splitting a strawberry-citrus and caramel-malty sweetness with dry biscuit and pine resin. The finish is of citrusy pine needles, biscuit flour and lightly toasted bitters which linger appropriately. With a substantive mouthfeel, the medium-full body integrates with a semi-active, oily palate to provide a smooth quaff to the pull. Balanced integration is one of this brew’s best qualities. Superbly complex Impy Amber/Red!
Pours a reddish amber with a one finger tan head with nice lacing. Aroma I’d of pine, citrus, sweet malts, caramel, and some tofee. Taste is about the same but is hoppier then then aroma. Has a medium body with a semi watery mouthfeel and a semi dry, modestly bitter, medium finish. Overall, a pretty tasty, well balaced strong ale that hides its alchool nicely.
On tap at Hops and Pie. Pour is slightly hazy amber with a frothy cream-colored head and great lacing. Sweet hoppy, caramelly, bready, grapefruity, citrusy, doughy, cake batter, vanilla, and earthy hoppy aroma. Taste is stale bread, grassy, lightly fruity, earthy, goopy, and sweet with a light bitter finish. Sticky mouthfeel with medium carbonation. Tastes a bit old.