Redhook Big Ballard Imperial IPA
In 1982 Redhook was born in a converted transmission shop in the Ballard District outside of Seattle, WA. After 28 years of brewing, Redhook is paying homage to its roots by releasing Big Ballard Imperial IPA. Big Ballard has a rich, deep golden and a very assertive hop character that hits you in the nose before reaching your lips. The flavor and aroma are balanced with complex malty undertones. While it has a friendly side, make no mistake - Big Ballard is brewed for diehard IPA fans.
Big Ballard pairs well with sausage, cured meats with ground mustard, spicy Mexican or Asian dishes, and barbeque .
Available in the Western US year round in both 22 ounce bottles and on draught.
Style: Imperial IPA
ABV: 8.6%
Malts: Munich
Hops: Alchemy, Willamette, Sterling, Northern Brewer, Cascade
Color SRM: 15
Bitterness Units: 73 IBU
Original Gravity: 18.2
Brewed Since: 2010
Big Ballard pairs well with sausage, cured meats with ground mustard, spicy Mexican or Asian dishes, and barbeque .
Available in the Western US year round in both 22 ounce bottles and on draught.
Style: Imperial IPA
ABV: 8.6%
Malts: Munich
Hops: Alchemy, Willamette, Sterling, Northern Brewer, Cascade
Color SRM: 15
Bitterness Units: 73 IBU
Original Gravity: 18.2
Brewed Since: 2010
3.4
167 reviews
Seattle, United States
Community reviews
Nice golden IPA/DIPA. If you like your IPA a little sweet and bitter, this is your beer. I like it a lot!
clear amber color; fruity hop aroma with herbal notes; fruity hop flavor; some pine notes; medium bodied bready malt
Bottle:
Slightly hazy amber/orange with a small, off-white head.
Orange, light pine aroma.
Taste is sweet orange malt, biscuit, followed by a mild pine and orange-peel bitter.
Nice maltiness……
A little alcohol/mineral bittering as well, towards the finish.
Overall, a pretty easy drinker.
Poured from 12 oz bottle into pint glass. A thin white head falls quickly with mild lacing. mostly clear golden orange color with moderate streaming carbonation. Aroma is hop forward with grapefruit, pine, and citrus rind along with some white bread dough. Mouthfeel is light to medium, sticky and astringent with a warming alcohol presence. Flavor: follows the aroma with the pine and citrus bitterness throughout the taste and the malt balance falls in the middle. Overall: very good and true to the style.
Lemon, orange, biscuit malt, and grapefruit peel aroma. Golden yellow with small head. Moderately sweet citrus, biscuit malt, and moderately bitter earthy pine and grapefruit peel flavor. Good body and balance. Pretty good - not overly sweet.
Aroma of pine, corn syrup, and sweet malt. Taste is moderately better; pine, pepper, and red bell pepper. Bitterness is there too.
This is very crisp and hoppy beer on the front end bit also carries a malty finish. I dont usualy like beers this hopy but this one is well rounded, great taste and the high potency definetly do the buzz well. A couple of these and your cruizin
12 ounce bottle from Kroger Lexington, VA, 12/23/18. I wish RateBeer could advance to like 1992 and adopt a website that can actually reflect the time zone in which the user is located. ITS NOT FUCKING CHRISTMAS EVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hazy amber, large frothy off-white head, good retention. Aroma of floral and leafy hops caramel malt. Taste is leafy, earthy, herbal hops, caramel malt, lime. Medium bodied, lingering bitterness. Sorry for the bad attitude joet, but I'm drunk and this site has problems with its priorities.
Pours clear amber with a thick white head. Aroma of hops. Taste is fairly light for an imperial IPA but the alcohol is readily apparent. Malt forms the basis of the taste. Palate is Smokey and earthy. Interesting hop profile.
Dark yellow, frothy white head. Aroma of hops and mash with some citrus fruit. Fruity citrus hop flavor. Palate is medium to full. Hop flavor is pretty aggressive, but it is balanced nicely with malt sweetness. Alcohol presence is noticeable and I can feel this brews potency with just a couple sips. Middle and finish bitter yet not overly drying. I've never been very impressed with anything from Redhook, yet this brew is pleasantly surprising. It is strong, but drinks like a more sessionable IPA. I actually recommend this one.
12 oz. bottle from Tmoney99. Pours a clear bright golden color with a medium sized off white head. The aroma and flavor have toasted pale malts, caramel, citrus, resinous and earthy hops, moderate bitterness, the hops are just a bit faded, bitterness does linger, better than expected.
Bottle. Poured clear dark golden color with an average frothy white head that lasted with very good lacing. Moderate complex balanced aroma. Medium body with a slick texture and soft carbonation. Moderate bittersweet flavor with a moderate bittersweet finish of medium duration. Good beer.
Serving: from bottle purchased at QFC.
Aroma: moderate pine.
Appearance: large, frothy, off-white, initial head. Clear, medium-yellow body.
Taste: lightly bitter initial flavor and lightly bitter, citrus finish with average duration.
Palate: medium body with syrupy texture and lively carbonation.
Overall: good enough.
Bronzed body, decent head. This one has an easy 2-row backbone. The aroma and flavor are both nicely bitter, with some sweetness underneath. Alcohol is a bit more noticeable than I would like
Pours a clear golden orange on tap with bubbly white head that dissipates to leave light lace. Aroma of toasted and caramel malts with piney hops and booze underneath. Taste follows, resinous pine and lots of specialty malt. Old school, but booze is fairly well hidden. Ok.
Draft - Caramel and light hops. Clear gold with a decent white head. Bitter sweet caramel and light hops. Very old school.
Bottle. orange pour with lasting white head. Less aroma than you would expect, a light hoppiness. Full taste like an Imp IPA. all over the tongue.
12 ounce bottle. Pours a amber color with a large white head. A sweet caramel and perfume nose. Sweet, malt forward at times, caramel, biscuit, some soft pine. Very smooth. Lovely beer. Great IIPA.
12-ounce bottle from a Red Hook IPA sampler pack pours clear golden orange with one-inch creamy white head and lots of clingy lacing. Aroma: caramel, faint citrus and tropical fruits, yet not fruit with a distinctive smell. Taste: malt-forward with caramel, honey and brown sugar, along with biscuit, orange, pineapple, and resinous piney hops. Mouthfeel: full-bodied, oily finish, lingering bitterness.
Well balanced. Caramel malt, piney hops, milld citrus. Nothing special. Good beer for the price. Would buy again.
Not a strong hop aroma. Very subtle. Minimal and short lasting head. Overall good not great. Probably best in the early Fall.
12 oz via bottle. Aroma of resinous hops, fresh pine and lightly toasted malt. Similar flavor, adding medium to heavy bitterness and a light grainy sweetness. Medium plus body with a lingering hoppy finish. Intense.
? tasting:
Aroma: high pitch of fresh cut greens, still balanced and without unnecessarily roughness. Resinous behind. 7+
Look: larger tanned top, long lasting. Base – amber
Palate: medium with average finish.
Taste: felt lighter than what numbers suggested. Nice smooth mid, good blend. Not bad even solid creation.
Wow!!!! Different than all the other Northwest IPA’s in that it has enough delicious malts to balance out that hoppy bitterness we all love. Also high abv makes it even better!
Long lasting pillowy head. Medium-Thin mouth. Pleasantly Bitter from start to finish with malt background. Therefore: very refreshing. This is especially enjoyable as a nod to history. To think that someone, somewhere was producing fully hopped DIPA’s many decades ago, is pretty cool. By the way, 22 oz. bombers of this brew are CHEAP! Best low cost/good beer/cheap buzz buy on the market.
Pencil shavings aroma. Clear amber, medium yellow head, good lace. Pencil shavings, grass, cardboard. Medium body, moderate carbonation. Pretty terrible.
And when when you forget that Redhook has both the pedigree and experience to school the majority of greenhorn uppity trend brewers, you shall pull out a Big Ballard, and remember why they earned their place in American beer history. Big Ballard is a quintessential west coast DIPA. The malt are bold and sweet. The hops are citric and resiny. They are in correct proportion, with the malts pulling the hops back into balance when they get uppity, like those greenhorn trend brewers. And let's not forget the reason we all started drinking. It's got abv. Not hot, but just dangerous enough. Thick mouthfilling body, big fluffy white head. Oodles of lacing. Groundbreaking....well no...but it's a fine example of the style, and a highly drinkable one at that. Take heed sissy sour beer brewknurds. There's a reason the classics are classic.
Pours a deep burnt gold with a white head and lacing. Nose is earthy and resin. Body is medium. Taste is malt with tropical fruit. Bitterness fills the mouth and in the aftertaste lingering. 12 oz bottle Bottled 12/5/17
Clear amber gold with thin lacy white head
Aroma is sweet sour hop spice
Flava is rich malty sweet alcohol notes balanced with hop spice bitterness
Feels medium to thick with moderate fizzy zing
Finishes moderately bitter slightly
A good strong IPA. Not just for IPA lovers, as Chandra (who dislikes IPA’s) liked it too.