Goose Island "The Illinois"

This is a 9.0% ABV Imperial India Pale Ale from the Goose Island Brewing Company of Chicago, Illinois (now owned by AB-InBev). It clocks in at 95 IBU's. The beer takes its name from a high skyscraper designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for the city of Chicago that was never built. If built, it would still be the tallest building in the world today.

The beer pours a gleaming dark copper in color. There is over an inch of thick, off-white foamy head that leaves some sheets of thick lacing down the glass. The aroma is cantaloupe, tangerine, nectarine, and passion fruit. The taste follows the aromas directly, hitting all of the same fruit notes, lush, full, round, ripe, tropical in its rich profusion of flavors. The malt stays behind the fruit of the hops, but there is enough there to hold all of this up. While bitter, it seems surprisingly moderate for its 95 IBU’s, I think because of the richness of the fruit flavor and malts. The mouth is like the flavors, lush, round, smooth and full. This is excellent!