21st Amendment - Hop Crisis (Imperial IPA)

I know it's been a while since my last post but I've been busy with some other stuff so I haven't been able to get around to posting.  I do have some good news though and it's that I've drank a good amount of beer in that time and am prepared to do a lot of reviews.  The bad news is I still haven't had a chance to brew my beer yet and I'm not sure when I'll be able to, but I'll make sure to let everyone know when the date will be.  So know for the review.

21st Amendment - Hop Crisis (Imperial IPA) 9.7%

The Brewery:

http://21st-amendment.com//splash.html

More Reviews:

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/735/42063

So I found out about this beer when I stopped into Martys (my local liquor/beer store) on what my Mom calls BEER FRIDAY!  The only thing was that the beer wasn't coming in till Saturday so I came in the next day and picked up this beer and am glad I decided to come back in because this was a very tasty beer.

I had to post pictures of the entire can because they have some pretty cool phrases written on them.  Not sure if you can read the can or not but if you'd like to read it you can always pick up a four pack of this delicious beer, it won't be a waste of money in my mind.

Before even opening this beer I noticed that it said it was aged on oak spirals.  I wasn't exactly sure what to expect in terms of flavor from this but I figured it would only make it taste better.

Pour/Look:

This beer pours with a beautiful golden yellow/amber color. You could practically see through this beer. The head was nice and white with a little bit of a yellow tint to it.  The head wasn't thick and was surprisingly thin even though it tended to stick around for a while.  Normally I'd expect the head to fade faster then this beer did.

Smell:

I loved the smell of this beer.  If there was a candle that could be made into this smell I would probably buy it.  It had that flowery/hoppy smell that I really enjoy and on top of that it had a brillant citris smell that I enjoyed.  I didn't quite get the smell of oak which surprised me but I don't think my smelling sense is all that great.  Even though I really enjoyed the smell of the beer it got me that much more excited to taste it.

First Taste:

I thought this was going to be very hoppy based on the smell that I was receiving but it really didn't have all that much of a bitterness to it.  This is a perfect summer beer for me because of the smooth light finish it has to it and the nice citris flavor.  Not only does it have that going for it but it has the strength to go along with it.  If I were to hand you this beer you'd have no idea that it was 9.7% which speaks volumes about how smooth, light, and balanced this beer tastes.  Along with the hops you get a nice taste of the malts (which helps the control the bite of the beer) and there was the perfect amount of malt for my taste because they didn't completly hide the hops which some beers can do.  This beer wasn't really carbonated all that much and I think it could be due to the fact it was aged on oak spirals.

Lasting Impression:

I was very impressed with this beer as I was drinking it.  There was the perfect balance of hops and malts and even had a nice mild citris flavor that only made the beer that much better.  It's being sold in 4 packs of cans.  I reccomend this to anyone, especially if you are an IPA fan because this beer is really perfect for the summer IPA fan. It goes down smooth and I could really see myself drinking a bunch of these and will most likely be buying an other package of this beer.  I don't know if it'll make my top 10 (which I still really need to think about) but it'll definitely be making a strong case.

Next Beer:

Dogfish Head - Robert Johnson's Hellhound on My Ale (Imperial IPA)
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/10099/67219
I first had this at Publick House in Brookline and really enjoyed it and when I saw it at the store I had to buy one and now you'll get to enjoy my review of it.  I already drank it and composed my initial thoughts and just have to do some edits and add some additional thoughts.  It's getting late here tonight so I should have this up tomorrow at around this same time.  Till then drink beer, love life.