Red Racer Imperial IPA - Central City Brewing

peensteen

Ontario (Canada)

4.33/5  rDev +0.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Thank you Sammy for landing this one!

Pours a deep orange colour, nice white sticky head, nice thick lace on the glass. Smells hoppy, pine notes citrus grapefruit and a big chewy malt presence to balance it all out. Taste of lush malt, pine, citrus, lemon notes. grape like quality in the finish, dry like finish but not too dry, just right in that department. Good mouthfeel, slightly creamy, full body and as a whole quite nice. Very drinkable brew, right up there with the regular Red Racer nice addition of hops, good bitterness throughout. I could drink this all night easily, awesome stuff.

Serving type: growler

03-08-2011 02:38:59 | More by peensteen

LazyL

British Columbia (Canada)

4.47/5  rDev +4.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

First off, get a pint while you still can!

Bright orange with red tinge, and crystal clear. Small white head with reasonable rentention.
Very appealing pine and grapefruit nose that begs you to have a sip as your mouth curls into a slight smile.
The bitterness is very mild and fades to a sweetness, then nice toffee malt flavours before returning to a nice hoppy bitterness.
Feels a bit chewy, so there is nice body here. You would not know this was more than a 6% IPA except for the bolder boozy sweetness that comes and goes. Lots of layers of flavour here and it goes down oh so easily.
This is a fantastic brew and I am both happy and proud that it is local.

Serving type: on-tap

02-24-2011 02:57:27 | More by LazyL

spree92

New Brunswick (Canada)

4.35/5  rDev +1.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Had this at Central City Brewery. Looks like a real I2PA should. A cooper ale with a nice yellow tinge. There was some good lacing that was left behind. The first thing I did when i smelled this was smile. I knew I was going to like what was about to come. The citrus hops exploded in the sinus and on the taste buds. The first bitterness of strong hops was supported by a mellow malt profile. The perfect balance. 9%. Couldn't tell by drinking it. The alcohol was buried under a beautiful, heavy, strong IIPA.

Serving type: on-tap

02-23-2011 05:33:23 | More by spree92

H1N1

British Columbia (Canada)

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

A- Pours golden amber with a finger and a half of fluffy head that leaves nice lacing.

S- Big pine and citrus hopes. I can tell right away that this beer is gonna be good. It reeks of quality. A pleasant amount of balancing malt. VERY well balanced. Excellent start!

T- HUGE taste! The hops jump out and kick my tastebuds right in the neck! Citrus and the trademark Red Racer IPA strong pine. Grapefruit comes bursting through the pine. The alcohol is so well blended in this beer also! It's there just enough to enhance the beer. Not overpowering at all. For 9%, it's impressive.

M- Full bodied for the style. Ithe big body suits this big IIPA. Pretty much perfect carbonation, which accentuates the hop bitterness.

O- Unreal! When I asked the bartender for a growler fill, he looked excited. I asked "How is it?" He pretty much ran to the tap to get me a taster glass of it. "Just try it" he said. But what I got from the way he said it was "Hold onto your socks!" When I tasted it, I understood. It was a huge beer with a huge taste. The best thing I've ever tasted to come out of Canada!

Serving type: growler

02-19-2011 07:13:08 | More by H1N1

bobsy

Ontario (Canada)

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

Lucky to try this one, which was a leftover bottle from the Canadian Brewing Awards, where Central City performed admirably.

Pours a burnt orange with a skiff of white head that laced well. Big citrus nose, but with more than enough caramel to provide balance. Intense, with a slight hit of alcohol. Flavour delivers in spades, but remains expertly balanced. Lots of grapefruit, orange, tangerine and pine, but again with enough caramel and biscuit to balance it out. Nice bitterness and a dry hot finish. Heavy luxurious mouthfeel. Nicely done!

Serving type: bottle

11-08-2010 14:49:59 | More by bobsy

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