Sneaky Pete Imperial IPA - Laughing Dog Brewing

SortaAmbivalent

Minnesota

4.25/5  rDev +11.5%

11-25-2012 01:01:02 | More by SortaAmbivalent

UncleBuccs

Arizona

4/5  rDev +5%

06-19-2013 03:52:14 | More by UncleBuccs

williamjbauer

West Virginia

3.75/5  rDev -1.6%

06-18-2013 15:35:46 | More by williamjbauer

BradleyR

Oklahoma

3.5/5  rDev -8.1%

06-16-2013 05:00:33 | More by BradleyR

InspectorBob

New Jersey

3.75/5  rDev -1.6%

06-12-2013 18:48:35 | More by InspectorBob

CK812

Arizona

4.25/5  rDev +11.5%

06-12-2013 03:25:26 | More by CK812

Segelstrom

Pennsylvania

3.25/5  rDev -14.7%

06-10-2013 17:45:12 | More by Segelstrom

bigred89

Maryland

3.25/5  rDev -14.7%

06-09-2013 23:02:10 | More by bigred89

Novabrewer

4/5  rDev +5%

06-08-2013 18:31:01 | More by Novabrewer

ChrisMon02

Ohio

3.25/5  rDev -14.7%

06-07-2013 17:44:56 | More by ChrisMon02

BuckeyeSlim

Ohio

3.66/5  rDev -3.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.75

32 oz. growler filled today from a freshly tapped keg where the line was cleaned during the change, poured into a NB snifter.

A - Pours a rich golden brown. A one-finger head of eggnog-white loose, fluffy foam with lots of pronounced bubbles falls at a moderate pace, leaving a ring of broken lace around the glass and islands of soap suds bubbles on the surface. Held to a full-spectrum light, the beer is a vibrant, almost neon orange red and rather opaque, although a tiny column of effervescence can be seen rising through the middle. Rich, sugary legs coat the glass as it's finished.

S - Woody hops weave into rich caramel malts, which weave into citrus / tropical fruit hops. Hints of white pepper spiciness jump to grapefruit and pineapple and then to caramels with notes of orange and honey. Just as a particular scent emerges, it disappears and turns into another. It's a complex and interesting effect. As it warms, the rich sugars of the malts come forward; it's almost a hopped-up Scotch ale.

T - Woody bitterness on a blanket of rich caramel-toasted breads. Lots of underlying malts to transport the hops, but the two sides of the coin aren't really one. Finish is dominated by a sense of dried flowers, with the bitterness giving the malts the taste of somewhat burnt light wheat toast. Still, that toast also comes with orange marmalade and honey. There's an overall rough edge to this taste profile that offers a backend that wants to kiss and make up. The ABV on this beer is very-well hidden and there's no suggestion that it's the alcohol providing the edge. As it warms in the glass, some rather subtle suggestions of tropical fruit appear in the finish, but even then they're nowhere what the nose suggests they might be.

M - Somewhat fizzy with moderate carbonation. Moderate body and with a somewhat loosely integrated structure where the malts and hops are in the same neighborhood but not closely joined. Decently long finish that's dominated by the hops but allows occasional echos of the caramel sugars on the tongue.

O - There's clearly lots of rich ingredients in this brew, but the forwardness of the woody hops along with the rye malts gives it a roughness, like a rip saw thru old lumber, that isn't overcome by the rest of the flavors. This beer screams for barrel-aging to take this edge off. It would have also been nice to get the grapefruit and tropical fruits present in the nose fully into the taste profile, but it seems they get overrun from roughness. The nose was really interesting in the way the various components kept darting in and out around each other, but this translated into a loose-jointed brew when drinking rather than an integrated one where the tastes transitioned elegantly.

Serving type: growler

06-07-2013 17:34:45 | More by BuckeyeSlim

HisBoyElroy

Michigan

3.75/5  rDev -1.6%

06-07-2013 00:10:27 | More by HisBoyElroy

SloppyJoeWasAMan

Maryland

3.75/5  rDev -1.6%

06-06-2013 20:04:48 | More by SloppyJoeWasAMan

tbryan5

Louisiana

4/5  rDev +5%

06-06-2013 01:12:39 | More by tbryan5

inspektor

North Carolina

3.75/5  rDev -1.6%

06-03-2013 22:22:48 | More by inspektor

Phillyz

Pennsylvania

3/5  rDev -21.3%

06-02-2013 01:50:19 | More by Phillyz

IPAchris

Pennsylvania

4.5/5  rDev +18.1%

06-01-2013 21:04:35 | More by IPAchris

h4ger

Connecticut

4/5  rDev +5%

06-01-2013 01:50:20 | More by h4ger

eulerthegrape

California

3.5/5  rDev -8.1%

05-31-2013 19:55:49 | More by eulerthegrape

acevenom

Louisiana

4.3/5  rDev +12.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Poured into a glass mug. The beer pours a darker shade of dull copper with a thin white head that doesn't stick around. There are a lot of visible bubbles rising in the beer. The beer smells of tropical fruit, citrus, some resiny pine, and bready malt. This is the definition of a juicy DIPA. There's a tropical fruit and citrus explosion up front with some back end piney bitterness. There's a good malty backbone that brings some nice breadiness to the flavor. The flavor also hides the high alcohol fairly well. The body is full with moderate carbonation. The aftertaste sticks around and there's some slight dryness in the finish. The beer sips pretty well. This is an excellent beer.

Serving type: bottle

05-31-2013 01:10:02 | More by acevenom

BeerForMuscle

New Jersey

4.25/5  rDev +11.5%

05-27-2013 19:21:35 | More by BeerForMuscle

Brownsfan13

Ohio

5/5  rDev +31.2%

05-27-2013 15:41:02 | More by Brownsfan13

Beergelden

Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev +5%

05-26-2013 17:12:37 | More by Beergelden

ChefHopMeister

Virginia

4/5  rDev +5%

05-25-2013 21:35:40 | More by ChefHopMeister

JWing

Virginia

3.75/5  rDev -1.6%

05-24-2013 11:46:06 | More by JWing