I found out that I’m going to be heading to Seattle for work in a few weeks, and one of the first things I did was see what breweries were in the area that I could visit. I had heard of this brewery, because my cousin had sent me a bunch of beers from Seattle and this was one of them.

Bottle says, “Aggressive, yet well-balanced, The Immortal IPA is a Northwest take on a classic English style, golden-copper in color and loaded with New World hop flavor and aroma.”

Location: Poured into a snifter glass from the 22oz bottle at my home in Bloomington, IL.

Numbers: 6.3% ABV, ~ 195 Calories

Appearance & Aroma: It’s orange–amber in color and was fairly clear, until I reached the dregs at the bottom of the glass. It had a very thin head on a nice creamy ring around the edge of the glass. It’s got a great aroma with a good solid mix of caramel maltiness and earthy, piney, resin-like hops.

Taste & Feel: The body is medium and the mouthfeel was fairly smooth, but slightly crisp. The flavor upfront was full of sweet, light caramel maltiness, but with a slightly sweet resiny bitterness. In the middle, and into the finish, the hop flavors became a bit more complex with a mix of piney-resin, earthy, and slightly citrusy and spicy flavors. All the while, the caramel malt backbone balanced the hop bitterness and flavors equally. In the finish, the citrusy and spicy hop flavors came through a bit more, and the resin and piney flavors stuck around for a bit in the aftertaste.

Food Pairing: This had a good mix of maltiness and complex bittereness, which made me think that both breadiness and slightly sharp cheese would go nicely with this beer. I think that could be found in an appetizer of cheese sticks, or in an entree of a big, beefy cheeseburger. The bready flavors would pull out the maltiness, which the cheese would match the bitterness of the hops.

Overall Impression: I had only heard of this brewery because of collaborations with Stone and The Bruery, but I figured if they are collaborating with breweries like these, they must be pretty good. After trying this IPA, they are definitely worthy of being paired with these other well known breweries. I thought this was an excellent beer that was very well balanced, highlighting the caramel maltiness and a complex mix of hop flavors. I’m definitely going to have to have another one of these when I go up to Seattle in a few weeks.

My Rating:

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