Lanikai Brewing 808 Imperial IPA

Beer Name: 808 Imperial IPA
Brewery: Lanikai Brewing Co. (Kailua, HI)
ABV: 8.1%
How sold: 22 oz. bottles
Where bought: Tamura's Fine Wine & Liquors (Honolulu, HI)
Price: $9.99 for a 22 oz. bottle

Date Purchased: May 31, 2015
Date Opened/Drank: May 31, 2015
When brewed? Year-round beer

Where distributed: Lanikai Brewing only distributes in Hawaii as of May 2015.

What's on the Bottle: "Hops and Pikake botanicals bring citrus, grapefruit and floral notes to our signature IPA. A solid malt backbone adds a touch of sweetness."

REVIEW:

Appearance (5%): Poured a copper hazy color into a 12 oz. glass. Good carbonation that reduces to a sudsy surface. 4/5

Smell (25%): A nice tropical citrus-grapefruit aroma with floral and hop-malt qualities. 4/5

Taste (40%): Sweet-malty initially, switching to floral and tropical citrus hop-bitter qualities on the back end. Full of flavor all around. If you are a fan of dank beers, this is for you. 4/5

Mouthfeel (10%): Full-bodied sweet-malt on the tongue. A dank bitterness does linger. 4/5

Overall (20%): A very good Double IPA. For those not in the know, Lanikai Brewing began as a successful Kickstarter-backed project. While I am a huge fan of the citrus-hop aftertaste, the full-bodied malty qualities at the outset may prevent me from drinking a full of bottle of this even occasionally. If they made a single IPA version that had a lighter body to it, I probably would buy that very frequently. 3.75/5

Final Weighted Rating: 3.95/5