Yakima Glory

Tasted in the evening while concoction a crock-pot soup composed of 10 mixed beans, organic brown rice, leftover pickled beet juice (thanks dad), potatoes, sweet potatoes, chili powder, and hickory smoked salt. The result ironically smells like bacon. Enough of that, beer served in a snifter.

Appearance: Very dark in color, but up to the light it exhibits a beautiful somewhat clear rubied hue. In this case carbonation is visible too, but otherwise it looks very rich and chocolate brown. Not much of a head exists aside from a foamy ring along the side .
Aroma: Rich caramel and roasted malt take the stage only to finish with a semi-sweet dark fruit character complemented with an alcoholic aroma. Grainy, but some spicing as well. Hop profile emits a nice bouquet of complexity revolving around cherries, bittersweet chocolate and other nutty, wood-sap and fruit tannins.
Taste: Starts bitter and finishes with a unique and highly distinguishable combination of dark roasted barley and hops to produce a raisin and cherry complexity. Carameled malt notes hold a foundational character in the sweetness which only develops the intricate flavors of this beer. The hops ad delicious notes of pine and citrus with paralleled undertones of vanilla, oak and rye. The higher alcohol is a positive addition to the flavor, as it clears the sweetness only to leave the drying resins of the Yakima hops. In combination one could easily pick out chocolate and coffee flavors in both foretaste and finish with a roasted charring.
Mouthfeel: Heavy but noticeably smooth. The texture is chewy and somewhat tacky, but overall it's certainly a mouthful. Finishes dry and resinous.Carbonation is minimal, only briefly braising the mid-tongue.
Overall Impression: Extremely flavorful and complex. Both the hops and malts exhibit their own contradictory flavors against each other, yet together they nicely transition and produce a big beer with tremendous flavor. I wouldn't call it a black IPA, but more so some other beast.


88/100