A Year of Craft Beer, Vol. 123, Oskar Blues G'Knight Imperial Red IPA

Hi Everyone!

Tonight I am drinking a beer from a can!  I will probably at some point devote much of the summer posts to canned beer to see if I really can tell the difference as compared with bottled beer.  Many say that they taste like metal, but in reality they should not.  So tonight I have a beer from one of the first to can their beer Oskar Blues and this installation is classified as an Imperial IPA or Double IPA which if you have been reading any of my posts is brewed with double the amount of barley making it sweeter and allowing the brewer to up the amount of hops yet keeping the beer balanced.  Let's see what we think of this one!

I poured this beer from the tall boy can at about 55 degrees F and its color is definitely clear and coppery with a full 3 finger head that settles to a full cap of fine bubbles and leaves a nice archway looking lacing patter on the glass.

The aroma is very malty sweetly smelling of caramel, honey and bread with hints of citrus fruits (tangerine?) and hops.  Now when I first opened the cans I was hit with a rush of floral hops, but as it settles and warms in the glass they smell a little more piney but only way in the background.

The taste is sensationally caramel hop sweet and bready with a mix of dark fruit and grapefruit with only a mild hop finish that is faintly dry.  Some alcohol is apparent mid sip, but only faintly so but she is warming on an empty stomach!  This is a very well balanced beer leaning a little to the sweet side.

The mouthfeel is sweet, smooth and full with mild carbonation and a mild dry finish with a hint of black pepper numbness.

Overall I am going to give this beer props!  Number one, this review was from a can and I have no hints of metal in my beer at all.  If I was drinking from the can, then yes, I probably would.  You know what, a metal flavor to beer is not all that detracting.  What is detracting from beer is cheap adjuncts.  This beer is a solid 4 out of 5 or better and it ranks up there with many of the Imperial IPA's that I have had and can surely hold it's own.  You gotta try it!

I was never an IPA fan, but then I got off my ass and tried them.  I invested some time to them and found that I love the double/imperials the best.  You really should give something different a try.  I can never get tired of helping someone move from swill to godly nectar!

-Wiss