Rampage Imperial IPA

The Rampage Imperial IPA is from the Black Diamond Brewing company.   The aroma of this IPA was pretty sweet smelling to me.  The smell of citrus was a bit of a put off to be honest.

The first sip was very different from the aroma.  I had no taste of citrus at all, but mostly pure bitterness from the hops.  The lingering hops on the tongue was a bit overpowering.  The second sip didn't fair much better and I found the beer to have little redeeming qualities for taste.

The alcohol was quite high at 9%.  I didn't care for this beer much at all, even though I typically enjoy a very hoppy beer.  Perhaps it was just a bad bottle.

I only can give it 2.5 out of 5 hops.

Racer 5

Ok, this is another old standby favorite.  Although I really like this beer, the draught seems much better than the bottle.  The beer has a bit of a sweetness too it that other IPA's don't seem to have, but it is a good sweet taste.  The bottle seemed a little more citrus than the on tap, but not too much that it ruined the balance.

It has a good hop finish, but not overly so, so even non-IPA drinkers will like this beer.  Alcohol is 7%, so it isn't too high, especially for an IPA.

I give it 4.25 out of 5 hops.

Coronado Brewing -- Islander IPA

Coronado Brewing is another local company here in San Diego.  The Islander IPA was very nice and smooth.  It had a very citrus taste with a strong hop finish.  The seemed to be quite a bit of carbonation to this beer.

Alcohol content wasn't too high at 7%, so it is a good drinkable beer.   The balance of citrus versus hops wasn't great in my opinion, with a little too much citrus for my taste.

I give it 3.5 out of 5 hops.

Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast

This is an Imperial Stout brewed in Denmark.  If you like stouts, I think you will enjoy this beer.  I am not a big stout fan, so it isn't going to make my favorite list.  The beer was very rich, smooth and velvety.  The aroma was a strong coffee/mocha and the flavor pretty much matched the aroma.  The alcohol content was 7.7%, so it is a fairly strong beer, but it was so rich that I couldn't finish the whole beer.

Since I don't really care for stouts I won't rate it.  Looking at some other comments online it seems like people that enjoy stout really like this beer.