Peace Tree Royale 41 Imperial India Pale Ale

The Peace Tree Brewing Company is in Knoxville, Iowa. They do a lot of really good and interesting beers and they always have a good time at beer fests. This is an Imperial India Pale Ale named after the 41st parallel, which  marks both the northern latitude where the brewery is located and the southern latitude where the New Zealand hops used in the beer are grown. It has over 100 IBU's.

The beer pours amber and apricot in color. There is a tall head of thick off-white foam. The aroma is hop forward, fruity, lots of cantaloupe, passion fruit, citrus, tropical, mango skin, apricots and overly ripe peaches. The taste follows directly upon the aromas, bright, tangy and full-flavored fruits, enough caramel malt to hold it up, but the hops shining. There is a sweetness, but the finish is fairly bitter. It drinks full, round and smooth. This beer is so good, hard to do it justice, give it a try if you are lucky enough to find a bottle.

This beer exemplifies something I have noticed lately.  Many of the imperial/double IPA's that are around the 100 IBU mark taste less bitter to me than many IPA's in the 60-ish IBU area. I think it is because the really high IBU ones are generally made with large amounts of malt and in addition to the bittering hops have very fruity hops as well. That helps to blunt the bitterness effect for me. Anyone else notice this on their palate?

(This beer also reminds of the scene from Reservoir Dogs; "Do you know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in Paris..a Royale with Cheese!")