McNeill's Warlord Imperial IPA

This beer comes from a small microbrewery located in Battleboro, VT. They brew a huge variety of styles and often have a big tap list to match. This is one brewpub I would love to visit one of these days. Luckily for me, my buddy was able to toss me one of their bottled offering, the Warlord Imperial IPA. I cracked the bottle and.......

22oz bomber. Pours into my glass a deep ruby red with an inch of creamy khaki foam on top. Orange highlights and good clarity. Aromas bring sweet sugared fruits and caramel malts upfront. Cotton candy? Citric and piney hops with resinous accents in the background. Quite malty and a tad bit earthy.

First sip brings dense sweet malts upfront with caramel and fruits rolling across the tongue. Earthy accents roll in that get caught up by citrus and pine laden hop oils. Bitterness kicks in and provides good balance with the sweet malts. Quite a big malty body for an imperial IPA and not what I was expecting.



Mouthfeel is medium bodied with a good creaminess. This brew goes down smooth and is easy to drink for a DIPA. The hop punch isn't quite there for me and this end up as a more malt forward brew. Overall though it's a tasty brew and I'm glad to try my first McNeill's, thanks to warriorsoul.

Overall I gave this Imperial IPA a rating of Great.

Check out the MySpace page for McNeill's (with taplist) by surfing over to: http://www.myspace.com/mcneillsbrewery