New Holland Brewing - Imperial Hatter Imperial IPA

Today I'm going to try a brew from New Holland's High Gravity Series, the Imperial Hatter DIPA.  This is a red-headed step child of their perennial IPA, with a hefty 9.4% ABV behind the curtains.  There isn't much information available about the brew on their website, but they do include a cartoon drawing of the Imperial Hatter, and it looks just like my buddy Zikra (I'll let you decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing).

I'm pouring this 12oz brew into my ale glass.  The bottle states this is a 2010 vintage, no indication of exactly when it was bottled though.  The beer is a hazy dark golden hue, almost velvety in color, with a light white head the falls away quickly.  The aroma is pungent, malty, and loaded with boozy herbal citrus.  Also some honey sweentess present in there.

The taste starts off with a gritty, earthy bitterness on top of a blast of citrus.  Mostly grapefruits and some orange peels.  Immediately after that first wave of bitterness comes a lingering, astringent, very unpleasant alcohol burn that takes this beer off the rails.  It's almost got a rotten-sour-apple flavor to it, not good.  The malt backbone is noticeable and nice, with some of that honey sweetness coming through, but I just can't make it past this acidic booziness.  The body is heavy and creamy, and the carbonation is relatively light, fitting nicely in the style. 

Overall Rating:  It's hard for me to call this a bad beer...it's definitely not bad, there are some positive qualities to it including the citrusy hops and the nice malt characteristics.  However, I just couldn't overcome that sour booze flavor in the middle...  C-