I'm knee deep in Oktoberfestbier and Pumpkin ales right now. Still
have a few summer ales to take care of; I am sure some sort of Indian
summer will kick in and I will polish those off. While I appreciate
most fall seasonal brews, the maltiness starts to get to me after a
while, the pumpkin spice gets to me a whole lot quicker. The hophead
within me is craving massive amounts of hops 24/7 and fall seasonals
just don't cut it. Thankfully I always have a few extremely hoppy
beers on hand. Short's Brewing Company from Bellaire, MI came out with
an Imperial Beer Series this year. 13 different extreme beers all hand
bottled and all very different. The one at hand to quell my hop
craving is Good Feller Imperial IPA (10 of 13 in the Imperial Beer
Series). The recipe comes from two beer recipes blended to make one
very strong beer, Hanging Frank & Stellar Ale which are both beers
brewed exclusively for two different restaurants. Both are single
hopped batches of strong pale ales, Hanging Frank using Simcoe &
Stellar Ale using Amarillo.

Aggressive rocky head rises to the occasion with sticky patches of
lace all over the glass, dark amber color has more clarity than I
expected for a highly hopped beer. Striking pungent hop aroma, the
nose is bombarded with big herbal, flowery and soft citric overtones.
The smell of malt and alcohol is second fiddle with hints of caramel
sweetness and peachy fruit esters. Creamy smoothness combo makes it
dangerously drinkable form the start, even with a full body. Hops are
at an insane level, I am starting to wonder what this beer tasted like
at bottling time on May 15th 2007 and if this beer has faded at all ...
it does not seem like it at all. Palate inhalation comes to mind as
the bitterness scorches the taste buds. The malt backbone does peak in
the middle with a juicy center of caramel that mixes with the delicate
peach fruitiness from the estery alcohol which is pushed back by the
hops. Hop flavor is beyond comprehending but I will try. The Amarillo
hops do have a slight tone of aspirin but not enough for me to go on a
tirade on why I hate Amarillo hops. Hops drop a mix of flavors;
Tangerine, canned Mandarin orange and Celemetine with puckering herbal
flavors in the drying finish. The finish does reveal a bit more of
that aspirin tone but the alcoholic esters shadow most of it.

There is a level of balance within this Imperial IPA even with the
thick blanket of hop presence, some how the timing of the malt and
alcoholic flavors all works out. Yes, I will admit that I really
really like this beer even though there is a huge Amarillo hop
character to it. Perhaps my palate is maturing or evolving, maybe
jonesing for a fix ... or I could just be slowly assimilating to
accepting Amarillo as a hop. Regardless, my hop fix has been taken
care of and I will sleep good tonight.

For more reviews:
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profi ... 9629/37124

For more info:
http://www.shortsbrewing.com