Widmer Brothers - Deadlift Imperial IPA

Widmer Brothers began with two brothers who graduated college back in the seventies, got jobs, and hated their lives.  After hitting their quarter-life crisis, they went off to Germany to explore the delicious European beer styles there and learn more about them.  It was there that they obtained a yeast strain that was provided by the Brewing Research Institute in Bavaria...and they have maintained that yeast at the brewery to this day.  I haven't tried any Widmer brews before, but they have a good chance of hooking me with this first one, because Imperial IPA is one of my favorite styles of beer!

The beer pours into the one and only pint glass - this pours a slightly hazy bright copper/orange color.  There is a surprisingly little amount of head, just a thin lace on the brew.  The nose is full of floral hops, reminiscent of an english IPA with some earthiness and a bit of pine, also some pineapple present in there.  The nose is almost fumey (is that a word?). 

The taste is literally split in half - the hops hit with the pine bitterness immediately, but the sweet caramel malts pound through almost simultaneously.  For an imperial IPA show, the malts are a pretty big star.  Bigger than usual.  But that's not a bad thing - this malt backbone is sweet but it doesn't overtake the bitterness of the hops, it complements it.  The earthy smells I caught are present in the hop profile.  This beer really reminds me of an English IPA. 

Overall Rating (4.2 out of 6.0)  This was a very well-balanced Imperial IPA.  However, I'm not a big fan of english-style IPAs, so the resemblance of this brew to that style kind of threw me off.  But... that really comes down to personal preference - if you're a fan of English IPAs, then you should absolutely pick up a case of this Widmer brew.