Red Racer Imperial IPA - Central City Brewing

ritzkiss

Ontario (Canada)

4.53/5  rDev +5.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.5

Bottle leftover from CBAs this year, shared thanks to a generous BA.

Pours a rich orange with hints of amber, not a lot of head but it leaves a little sticky lacing.

This is a terrifically balanced DIPA with lots of heft in the malt and loads of hops. Pithy grapefruit and orange rind, lemon, pine, just a hint of tropical fruits. Sticky caramel malt, some toast and a hint of minerally dryness. Moderate to heavy bitterness with a pleasing long finish, alcohol just peeks a bit but it's so smooth. Sticky, thick mouthfeel which balances the blast of bitterness. This DIPA is just plain awesome.

Serving type: bottle

11-01-2010 04:23:36 | More by ritzkiss

DoubleJ

California

4.97/5  rDev +15.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

I was going to ask for a second helping of the IPA, but the bartender at Central City Brewing told me that a Double IPA was on-tap at the moment. "Do you need to taste it?", asked the bartender. Me: "No, I'm confident I'll like it". So I got my 10 ounce helping for $5, and, well, on to the beer:

It's a dark orange amber color, but it looks like it's glowing. The lacing left in the glass is good, and so is the head retention. The nose is absolutely awesome! Tropical and citrus fruit everywhere: mangoes, tangerines, yet all balanced and potent.

Even more goodness arrives in the mouth. Here they come in generous doses; mangoes, citrus, caramel, pineapple, all being carefully balance, and all while the 9% ABV is buried like a treasure map. With the medium body and extremely smooth feel, this Double IPA is stupidly easy to drink! So stupidly, that I asked for another helping of this gem.

Stunning, simply stunning! I had no idea what I'd get out of Central City Double IPA, and then this beer shocks the heck out of me. A beer that puts me on my knees. A beer that knocks YuleSmith and Péché Mortel off my personal list for highest beer score. And a beer that needs to be canned, or at least shipped out of the brewery in kegs to other bars across greater Vancouver.

Serving type: on-tap

06-07-2010 03:06:32 | More by DoubleJ

astout

British Columbia (Canada)

4.38/5  rDev +2.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

Was so stoked to find this at the Brew Pub today, a real treat since their IPA is one of the best I've had and definitely the best in BC (maybe Canada). I grabbed a growler of this as well so I may review that later. ABV was told to me by the server, if someone else hears something different or has more accurate please add, although she seemed fairly reliable.

Poured a rich Copper colour with good carbonation and a nice frothy head that slowly dissipates into a decent rim around the glass.

Huge grapefruity hop aromas up front with a resiny component coming through after, not much in terms of caramel or bready malt type thing here.

On the palate I'm hit with a bright grapefruit pith bitterness that leads in to a more caramel malty taste mid palate. Finishes with a ton of thick resiny pine flavours that really drys out the finish and lingers for quite awhile.

Has a great thick and heavy mouthfeel with a decent amount of carbonation, keeping it weighty to carry the high abv but not so much that it becomes difficult to drink.

Surprisingly sessionable IIPA in my opinion and definitely something I will need to make the trip out to Surrey for again.

Serving type: on-tap

09-26-2009 23:06:24 | More by astout