Finally, trying this! Like some kind of candy… Doesn’t really smell like an IPA at all.

Pretty flat- not so strange, since best before-date is well passed on this one. Reddish/light brown colour, little bubbly-action going on… very little aroma at all… tiny fruity hint, perhaps. And little acidic… Tiiiny honey infusion/caramel’ish note. The tastes herein must have taken twists & turns, going through the long while since production.

Well, tastewise then? Like a fruit juice, overly balanced- just so round now that if this passed as a controversial IPA some 4 years ago, it’s turned into an incredibly adjusted fruitpunch with figs and an incredible mateurity unlike much else… And after a long, long while eventually showing a hoppy hint that once was bitterness. Then ounded off with sweet outro- almost like George & Freddie touring Russia for a last time together. In perfect hoppyness.

As I am familiar with some of their other brews, expectations would be reasonably high from the start here. Adding to that, the fact that this is an Imperial IPA from the brewery’s Barrel aged-series, stakes are dangerously high… First off; the label design is cool. There is a tipsy reaper lurking beneath the beer bottle, all barely visible in this dark artwork. So, let’s get down to the real deal, shall we? A fine, smooth golden look, pouring equally esthetic head in the tulip glass- just a tad mirky… Like watching a still flame. Nose is an incredible blend of hops, resulting in foresty smells, including flowers, spruce and almost caramelish notes of sweetness. I’m incredibly eager to drink this! When the first drop comes in contact with the tongue, there’s maturity fusing with an incredible bitterness, vanilla hints comes into play in the background. It’s quite strong, as one would expect from an imperial IPA to be. Still, very very nice balance of each of the elements featured. The taste lasts for an eternity, like a dark long catacomb from here to the underworld. Pretty astonishing stuff, as I thought.

(Photo: M. Brochs)

Dark yellow on the verge of orange by looks, and quite mirky. Pours little head, looks like a pale ale I’ve seen many times before… Anyways; As far as aroma goes, this is a highly tropical infused one (which interestingly is) combined with 3 different types of hops, creating a fruity tease. Let’s get to the actual taste: A very tasty, hoppy IPA with lots of pine-hoppyness, combined with grapefruit, pineapple and with a somewhat sweet undernote. The bitterness lasts for eternity though!

Dark, mirky yellow- on the verge to brownish colour. Pours small head which settles quickly. Nose is highly fruity- somewhat toffee/caramelish, hints of a subtle sharpness of sweet dried fruit, as dates and figs. Suits autumn and winter perfectly, contrary to all the recent summer beers that has been consumed… When it comes to taste, carbonation freshness is peek-a-boo’ing, but is gradually giving way to the immense sweet malt body. Very solid, lies steady and authentic for a good while before rounding off in a mildly hopped fruityness.

Deep, yellow-brownish colour with quite a bit of mirkyness. Nose is lightly floral, but clearly spiced, with deeper fruity notes of fig or plum. Very, very high level of carbonation going on in this full-bodied deliciousness. Tastewise it is moreover a  freshly caramelized hopbomb, pretty bitter as it develops in the mouth. Morphing into a somewhat liquorice-like saltyness that is smoothened out in a long finish. Nice! 🙂

Now, here we have a pleasant surprise from the IPA-dimension! This delicious beverage has an inviting intensely yellow colour to it, accompaniedby a large, creamy head topping it. There’s a vast selection of fruity features here spanning from mandarina/orange to passion fruit, with hints of lemon underneath. This is quite reversed in the tasteprocess, where the lemon comes out marginally dominating, followed by melon’ish fruit and an evolving bitterness that is not disturbing at all, just overall a great balance from start ’till finish. The aftertaste is also really nice, leaving a tenderly bitter sting on the tongue.

This one has a great nose to it. It’s promising fruity, bitter taste with sweet toffee features and the bitter ending is good. But first & foremost, I find the beautiful colour really inviting, with lots of foam. It’s not as easy to describe right away, but after a short while, it’s there: Grapefruit. Thereafter, a second of caramel followed by an increasingly bitter taste. Swallow once more, and the bitterness grows into a powerful tasty aftertaste.

Here we have Amager’s tribute to overlord brewer, Surly’s own Todd Haug. Visual presentation is lightly yellow in colour and with nice head. Extremely citrus-aromatic, like snorting the florality from a whole forest. Tastewise it is at first fresh and sweet, then a tad bitter… However, not in an extreme sense. I never thought I’d say this but… You taste fabulous, Todd! There’s some orange in here too. but mostly lemon. Sweet at first, then sliding over in that bitterness.

Goldlike yellow colour, on the verge to light brown and highly inviting. Looks very smooth judging by the head when pouring, almost creamy-like. Nose is delicious, lighly fruity behind a veil of sweet summerly hints. Massive malt body entagled with a well tasting ale, which is given a untraditional charater by the tea-taste… Kind of reminds me of a hybrid merge between ice tea and beer, but in a successful manner. Summer, flowers and night-time tea is pretty accurately what comes to mind here. Eceptionally great experience.

A black IPA is what we’re confronted with here, quite mild as British IPAs tend to be. The carbonation is way too intense, producing a large head, not only when pouring but even in mouth, by each sip. The aroma gives little, but some traces of the liqurice and coffee. Besides that, I find it hard to get much. That also goes for the taste, even though there’s clearer references to roasted malts and fruity hops… For a split second, that is. Somehow thin bodied, I find little generosity even hops-wise here. Gives little way to aftertaste- despite well-tastyness, it is too shortlasting & a tad bland for my taste.