Short's Brewing Company - Good Feller Imperial IPA

I'm knee deep in Oktoberfestbier and Pumpkin ales right now. Still have a few summer ales to take care of; I am sure some sort of Indian summer will kick in and I will polish those off. While I appreciate most fall seasonal brews, the maltiness starts to get to me after a while, the pumpkin spice gets to me a whole lot quicker. The hophead within me is craving massive amounts of hops 24/7 and fall seasonals just don't cut it. Thankfully I always have a few extremely hoppy beers on hand. Short's Brewing Company from Bellaire, MI came out with an Imperial Beer Series this year. 13 different extreme beers all hand bottled and all very different. The one at hand to quell my hop craving is Good Feller Imperial IPA (10 of 13 in the Imperial Beer Series). The recipe comes from two beer recipes blended to make one very strong beer, Hanging Frank & Stellar Ale which are both beers brewed exclusively for two different restaurants. Both are single hopped batches of strong pale ales, Hanging Frank using Simcoe & Stellar Ale using Amarillo.

Aggressive rocky head rises to the occasion with sticky patches of lace all over the glass, dark amber color has more clarity than I expected for a highly hopped beer. Striking pungent hop aroma, the nose is bombarded with big herbal, flowery and soft citric overtones. The smell of malt and alcohol is second fiddle with hints of caramel sweetness and peachy fruit esters. Creamy smoothness combo makes it dangerously drinkable form the start, even with a full body. Hops are at an insane level, I am starting to wonder what this beer tasted like at bottling time on May 15th 2007 and if this beer has faded at all ... it does not seem like it at all. Palate inhalation comes to mind as the bitterness scorches the taste buds. The malt backbone does peak in the middle with a juicy center of caramel that mixes with the delicate peach fruitiness from the estery alcohol which is pushed back by the hops. Hop flavor is beyond comprehending but I will try. The Amarillo hops do have a slight tone of aspirin but not enough for me to go on a tirade on why I hate Amarillo hops. Hops drop a mix of flavors; Tangerine, canned Mandarin orange and Celemetine with puckering herbal flavors in the drying finish. The finish does reveal a bit more of that aspirin tone but the alcoholic esters shadow most of it.

There is a level of balance within this Imperial IPA even with the thick blanket of hop presence, some how the timing of the malt and alcoholic flavors all works out. Yes, I will admit that I really really like this beer even though there is a huge Amarillo hop character to it. Perhaps my palate is maturing or evolving, maybe jonesing for a fix ... or I could just be slowly assimilating to accepting Amarillo as a hop. Regardless, my hop fix has been taken care of and I will sleep good tonight.

For more reviews:

formatting link
... 9629/37124

For more info:

formatting link

Reply to
beeradvocates
Loading thread data ...

DrinksForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.