Fort Collins The Incredible Hop - Imperial Black IPA

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

more pine than citrus in the aroma, with a healthy dose of dark roasted malt, cocoa and maybe licorice? well balanced, smooth, medium body. pretty nice in-style.

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 8

Mouth-watering aroma is hoppy like a good IPA yet smoky like a good stout or porter. It pours an opaque dark-chocolate brown with a thick and rather persistent tan head that leaves some good lacing. Scrumptious flavor has strong hoppy, fruity and mocha notes with a burnt undertone and firm but not fierce hoppy bitterness and a noticeable alcohol bite. Firm-bodied texture is smooth yet lively, leaving a hoppy, edgy, bitter, and subtly fruit-sweet finish. I look forward to sampling more black IPAs. (Wait a minute - if you think about it, "Black IPA" is an oxymoron. How can something be black and pale at the same time?)

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

22oz bottle -

I don't get a chance to rate a lot of Fort Collins beers, but those that I have I've mostly enjoyed, so this beer continues that trend. Aroma has is nearly stout like with so much roastd malts. There is some piney hops struggling to get out, but it's an unbalanced mix of the two...clearly malt forward. A subtle touch of smoke (I think) seems to escape now and again, which was nice. Flavor is straight-up bitter, bitter, and more bitter. Like drinking an espresso with hops floating in it. Very dry, very puckering. Not sure how this can be an Imperial IPA, when it tastes like an Imperial stout without the mouthfeel. Alcohol is noticeable.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 4

22oz bottle. Pours dark brown with a frothy creamy brown head that goes to a thin film that laces the glass.

The aroma is bitter, slightly charred, roasted malts with a little black licorice and chalky alcohol.

The flavor is a little sweet chocolate and heavily roasted malts with a big harsh charred bitter bang in the finish. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with smooth carbonation.

Overall, too much harsh charred bitterness, with not a lot redeeming for me. This was a bit more balanced and pleasant on draft.