Imperial Boss - Laurelwood Public House & Brewery

HopHead84

California

3.58/5  rDev -5.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

On tap at the NE Sandy location. Brought to me in an Imperial Pint glass. The beer appears faded straw golden with a pillowy off-white head. The head recedes in under a minute and leaves some nice lacing on the glass.

The beer was server extremely cold, so I let it warm for a while. That's long enough. There's not a strong hop aroma. Caramel malt takes center stage. Somewhere in the distance I smell some citrus, and maybe a little pine. No alcohol is noticeable in the nose.

Being quite bitter, the beer makes good use of its 89 IBUs. I get some grapefruit, but the hops taste mostly of pine resin. Caramel malt makes up the malt profile. There's a lot of hop bitterness, but not the hop flavor to back it up that I was hoping for. The finish is long and bitter, with alcohol and pine. As the beer warms even further, the alcohol is quite strong.

The beer is light-medium bodied with great carbonation (naturally as it's on tap), and a dry, sticky mouthfeel.

Serving type: on-tap

05-11-2009 22:59:57 | More by HopHead84

Docer

Washington

4/5  rDev +5.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

- Nice dark amber/copper color... thick creamy off-white head.. lacing all about.. clear..

- Rich sweet caramel malt scent with a bitter hop zinger to it... grain.. bit of alcohol.

- Smooth and tastes close to the original Boss... nice smooth sweet caramel malt.. w/ a bitter pine hop finish that sneaks up a bit.

- Not too dry or oily.. little chewy..

- Very easy to drink, and is so smooth and flavorful... it would be easy to over due this one! Overall a very good IPA w/out being a major hop bomb.

Serving type: on-tap

05-07-2009 00:39:03 | More by Docer