Sierra Nevada Hoptimum Imperial IPA - Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

swh1972

North Carolina

4/5  rDev -4.5%

01-19-2013 21:23:35 | More by swh1972

NateMac13

Illinois

4.5/5  rDev +7.4%

05-25-2013 18:47:42 | More by NateMac13

MPSTARR

Florida

4.5/5  rDev +7.4%

05-25-2013 18:27:00 | More by MPSTARR

BillHem

Florida

4.5/5  rDev +7.4%

05-25-2013 17:06:11 | More by BillHem

dcloeren

Texas

4/5  rDev -4.5%

05-25-2013 17:05:39 | More by dcloeren

vidguy17

Iowa

3.5/5  rDev -16.5%

05-25-2013 13:41:04 | More by vidguy17

elNopalero

Texas

4.75/5  rDev +13.4%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75

Wow! This beer is intense. In a good way.

Pours a caramel-tinged golden-amber with some light foam.

This has a beast of an aroma. It’s intensely piney with some orange citrus notes. Big and assertive, even at first sniff.

This has a sharp, bold bitterness upfront that’s full of hop intensity—piney, citrusy orange, and resiny with a long bitter finish. I found this beer much more of a palate wrecker than the eponymously named beer.

This seriously scratched my itch for a big, bad, over-the-top bitter DIPA. Fan-tas-tic! And with such great distribution. A great value too.

Serving type: bottle

05-25-2013 05:05:14 | More by elNopalero

foxyaardvark27

Washington

4.25/5  rDev +1.4%

05-25-2013 04:00:13 | More by foxyaardvark27

HeadyMusicalTopper

New Hampshire

5/5  rDev +19.3%

05-25-2013 03:17:14 | More by HeadyMusicalTopper

Bones10

Illinois

4.25/5  rDev +1.4%

05-25-2013 02:15:48 | More by Bones10

adamhand

Massachusetts

4.25/5  rDev +1.4%

05-25-2013 01:03:54 | More by adamhand

RummyRedbeard

Massachusetts

4.25/5  rDev +1.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

(copied from blog - written May 6th, 2013)

Appearance – Slightly cloudy light-goldish-orange in color. Actually doesn’t look much different than a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Solid one finger white head. Leaves heavy lacing that washes away quickly.
Smell – Allergies/cold prevent me from revealing the scent… From what I can tell through a mostly stuffy nose – strong pine and citrus with an earthy note.
Taste – Up front a blast of hoppy bitterness and orange juice, grapefruit, underlying caramel sweetness. Lingering bitter piney flavor.

This big imperial offering from Sierra Nevada is quite the monster. Its appearance is OK… surprisingly straw looking for the huge amount of flavor that comes out of it. As I said, I unfortunately can’t smell much out of my nose, but then again that might say something about this brew since I CAN smell something from the top of the glass! The taste when you drink it is pretty cool because it starts off basically tasting like super hoppy OJ (or otherwise just regular grapefruit juice) and there is this caramel sweetness that weaves in and out making it appear balanced at one moment and at the next next seem like a hop head’s wet dream wrapped in pine. The 10.4% only reveals itself once you stop drinking for too long and you feel that boozy warmness in your belly. After one and a half beers I’m feeelinggg quite niiice.

Serving type: bottle

05-24-2013 22:40:53 | More by RummyRedbeard

BigEZ_VZ

Louisiana

3.75/5  rDev -10.5%

05-24-2013 21:40:14 | More by BigEZ_VZ

RedneckBeerz

North Carolina

4.25/5  rDev +1.4%

05-24-2013 21:32:21 | More by RedneckBeerz

Spaz7

California

4.75/5  rDev +13.4%

05-24-2013 21:04:44 | More by Spaz7

Boone757

Maryland

4/5  rDev -4.5%

05-24-2013 19:18:26 | More by Boone757

Icarus

Minnesota

4/5  rDev -4.5%

05-24-2013 19:08:49 | More by Icarus

henskejk

California

4/5  rDev -4.5%

05-24-2013 14:58:52 | More by henskejk

Tom_Gilman

Pennsylvania

3.75/5  rDev -10.5%

05-24-2013 11:37:02 | More by Tom_Gilman

falloutsnow

Illinois

3.35/5  rDev -20%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

From: Friar Tuck, Savoy, IL
Date: None, "2013" on bottle label (showed up in stores last week)
Glass: Tulip

I had high hopes for Sierra Nevada's Hoptimum, but the overall beer is a mess of ethanol heat and hop bitterness, malt character and hop/yeast fruit esters oftentimes being lost in these major two players. To me, the ethanol obviousness during tasting detracts from this beer, as it takes up "flavor real estate" that should be devoted to hops and hop-associated flavors. In the end, this comes across as a fairly run-of-the-mill DIPA: high in bitterness with moderate fruit flavors, and far too pronounced and obvious in ethanol that ravages and withers the complex malt profile used.

Pours a 1.5cm tall head of slightly off-white colored foam, made up of small bubbles, creating a fairly dense-looking froth. Retention is for about one-and-a-half minutes, somewhat above average for the style, eventually leaving a thin ring around the perimeter of the glass and a fairly large, wispy island of foam sitting atop the body of the beer. The lacing that's left is thick and heavy, a nearly complete wall of foam adhering to the walls of the glass. The body is a transparent copper-brown color, with bringing out bright orange-copper hues. Carbonation is visible in the beer, it being moderate in number, but frantic in movement.

Aroma of candied orange peel, grapefruit sections, slight honey, and enough pale malts to create a caramel-like sweetness. Good, but not as bold or dank as I was expecting, given the IBUs and, well, name of the beer.

The major flavors are strong hop bitterness, pine resin, grapefruit, a surprising amount of spicy ethanol, and a moderate caramel malt sweetness in the background. Tasting opens with bright fruit flavors including peach, guava, and orange, hints of oncoming hop bitterness, and spicy, peppery ethanol. Mid-palate of strong hop bitterness, pine resin, spicy ethanol, grapefruit, orange peel, minor guava and pale malt sweetness. Back of palate features strong ethanol, hop bitterness, grapefruit, and slight pine resin; most flavors are obscured by the ethanol at this point. Aftertaste of ethanol, long-lingering hop bitterness, and sweet pale malts giving the overall impression of an alcoholic hop candy.

Beer is medium to medium-heavy in body with carbonation of medium intensity. The result is a slightly foamy, somewhat smooth mouthfeel, with an unfortunate heat and burn brought on by ethanol. Ethanol is easily and quickly felt on the tongue, throat, and in the nostrils for most of each sip, again detracting from enjoyment of this beer. Closes semi-dry, with astringency around the sides of the mouth, and substantial stickiness lingering on the lips and across the mouth.

Serving type: bottle

05-24-2013 06:10:28 | More by falloutsnow

PaleZombie

Arizona

4.23/5  rDev +1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Poured from a 12 oz bottle into a wine glass.

A - Nice copper/tangerine color with about 1 finger of foamy white head that quickly dissipated.

S - Big grapefruit, pine, some citrus, slight note of some sweet malts. Only a mild alcohol sent as it warmed.

T - Very bitter grapefruit followed by pine then the slight slight citrus and malt to clean up the pallet. Bitter in the finish though which lasts quite long. Surprisingly I barely detect the alcohol it seems more like a 6-7% as opposed to a 10.4.

M - Fairly slick oily feel with a medium body and perfect carbonation.

O - The more I drank this and let it warm the more I liked it. The flavor and aromas were awesome and for a 10.4% beer I could hardly detect the alcohol. This beer is extremely well crafted and another great beer from Sierra Nevada. Cheers!!

Serving type: bottle

05-24-2013 04:29:23 | More by PaleZombie

Ish1

Minnesota

4.25/5  rDev +1.4%

05-24-2013 02:43:18 | More by Ish1

tmaestro

Texas

4.5/5  rDev +7.4%

05-24-2013 00:41:36 | More by tmaestro

bostonryan

Massachusetts

5/5  rDev +19.3%

05-24-2013 00:28:51 | More by bostonryan

CHILLINDYLAN

Washington

4.38/5  rDev +4.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Clear pale orange. Big frothy oily beige head. Thick tight lacing.

Very hop pungent. Pine, resin, spicy, Grapefruit pith, ganja, floral. Light sweetness of malt is hidden below the hops dominance.

Big resinous pine, ganja, and grapefruit. rounded out a bit by some toasty sweetness and alcohol. big bitterness with piney resinous aftertaste.

big sticky resinous and oily medium body. astringent. drying. good carbonation that just gets through the oils.

hoppy beast. drinks very well. great piney resinous profile.

Serving type: bottle

05-23-2013 23:06:43 | More by CHILLINDYLAN