Some people might be inclined to shout out "Not another Imperial IPA" but I am not one of them. Then again, I don't live in the US so I am not exposed to the plethora of IPA, DIPA, SDIPA and all other acronyms.
Anderson Valley's Imperial IPA is an anniversary brew to commemorate their second decade of brewing. At 8.7% and 100 IBU it certainly ticks all the right boxes of a beer that deserves some respect. On tasting it I decided that respect is well deserved for this is a smashing brew. The strong orange hints that there is probably Amarillo used in the beer at some point though all I know for sure is they have 20 additions of pacific northwest hops. Other citrus such as grapefruit and a hint of lemon also shine through. This is exactly what I expect a top notch double IPA should taste like and also feel like because I love the chewy caramel mouthfeel and was quite happy with the sweet malty backbone to counterbalance those 100 IBUs. A little brown sugar was a pleasant and unexpected surprise.
Sure; there might be better double IPA's out there but there are a many more worse ones so a fantastic brew to sink your teeth in to, almost literally. At least this one is easy enough to get hold of.
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