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Nine bottles of beer made the long journey from Bozeman to Nashville. This was the first opened, a bomber of imperial IPA from Flathead Lake Brewing Company. Based in Bigfork at the north end of Flathead Lake, the brewery has a taproom in Missoula and poured several tasty beverages at the Montana Brewers Association Festival. On a lazy December night in Nashville, it was time to continue our acquaintance with Flathead Lake Brewing.
This bomber came from Worden's Market and Deli in Missoula. Like most Montana brewers, it's a small operation and doesn't often travel from the Mountain West.
This imperial IPA pours out with an assertive effervescence, a medium head that dissipate into lace quickly. The hazy amber-orange body could almost pass for a stronger hefeweizen. Hopped with Cascade and Simcoe, The Imperial sports a surprising malt content: Montana 2-row pale, wheat and caramel malts. Knowing that, the haze isn't entirely surprising.
The hops make a lot of backdrop noise; they are inescapable in this imperial IPA, even if they are not always tearing up the palate. The body has a massive burnt orange flavor enriched with hop resin and oils. Traces of pine, linger, along with lemon and grapefruit. The fruit notes are often reminiscent of an ale more Belgian in style. This could be a result of malt influence on the hops. The resin textures mix with the caramel malt closer to the finish, and there's no backbite from the hops or the alcohol (8.6 percent, almost sessionable for an imperial IPA).
Flathead Lake Brewing has a imperial IPA as mellow and balanced as they get. For $5 a bomber, it is a steal.
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