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Capped 750ml bottle purchased from France 44.

A deep red pour with a very impressive head of foam with plenty of nice lacing.

It smells hoppy with some pine and citrus and other fruits that I can't nail but I'll take a guess and say apricots or maybe peach? Behind that there's an underlining of toasted malts that bring a sweet factor to the aroma.

The taste surprised me; plenty of pine hop bitterness but I'm getting big notes of melon?, and apricot, and lots of toasted malt too with the what, 111 IBUs? And where IS that alcohol? 11% abv doesn't do much more than warm the belly a bit. Cool.

Full bodied with light carbonation, the mouthfeel is so smooth.

Other than the melon taste which threw me for a loop, I like everything about this DIPA. I guess I'll have to try more of Steel Toe's offerings..

Served In: Tulip

Bright and saturated copper orange color, nice clarity, copious light tan foam that froths up to the rim of the glass and slowly settles, leaving behind arcs of drippy lacing in the glass. Over time the skim fades to a ring around the edges.

Sweet and fruity aroma, somewhat suggestive of cantaloupe or melon. Some caramel malt sweetness there also as it warms up.

Fruity citrus rind and resiny pine bitterness, smooth cantaloupe notes with a dry bitter finish that lingers nicely. A warming spicy note from the 11% abv, though it's not too overt in the taste. It's got a nice smoothness with a medium body and low carbonation, sort of a sticky nectar thing happening. Overall a nice DIPA that i'd recommend to hopheads for sure.

Served In: Pint Glass

If there was a 4/3 for appearance, this one would get it - phenomenal red-copper color with a soft offwhite head that lasts like crazy. Probably because of the hops. There are one or two in here. Aroma is all kinds of complex - there's an underlying apricot along with a toasty-sweet malt, and about four different kinds of spiciness between some lemon rind. faint tangerine, distant pine, and a lemon-thyme hit in there. Damn.

Hellllooooo beautiful! They nailed this one. The layes of flavor just in the initial hit are like counting layers in a well made baklava only more fun. A toast-and-honey malt is there in the middle, but the thing is surrounded by a coarse slightly leafy bitterness, apricot, citrus rind and autumn leaf aromatics wafting all over, faint hints of tea and background toffee, and a very well controlled but neccessary warming surge of alcohol. Ungodly drinkable for an 11% brew. The lingering leafy hoppiness and toasted malt are so clean. Almost a cardamom or mint like aftereffect. Mouthfeel is full but not cloying.

Somehow this reminds me of a cross between Heady Topper and Dreadnaught. High praise and deservedly so.

Thanks to TipTop for the bottle!

A word about balance; it's easy for a high alcohol, highly hopped ale to have the malt as an afterthought, sometimes dominated by a booziness. That is NOT this beer.

Served In: Goblet