Brewed By: Grand Teton Brewing Co. in Victor, Idaho
Purchased: 4-pack bought at Jewel-Osco in Chicago, IL; 2012
Style/ABV: Imperial IPA, 8.0%
Grand Teton Brewing Company is a brewery located at the base of the Teton Mountains in Victor, Idaho. The brewery advertises fresh ingredients, including water from glacial run-off, home-grown malting barley, and hops straight from Southern Idaho hop farms.
The brewery was founded in 1988 by Charlie and Ernie Otto, originally called Otto Brother's Brewing Company located in Wyoming. The brothers secured the first malt beverage manufacturers' permit in Wyoming in 35 years, and were the first modern micro brewery to be opened in the state. The brewery also credits itself with reintroducing the modern Growler, in 1989. After battling Wyoming's state laws, the brothers opened Wyoming's first brewpub in 1992.
Due to the brewpub's popularity, in 1998 the brothers decided to open a brewery at the base of Teton in Victor, Idaho. In the Fall of 2000, the company changed their name from Otto Brother's Brewing Company to Grand Teton Brewing Company to give props to the people of Teton, where the new brewery was located. In April 2009, Charlie Otto sold the brewery to Steve and Ellen Furbacher. Since the Furbachers have taken over, the brewery has continued to expand. Right now the brewery is an 11,000 square foot building, with a 30 barrel brewhouse, and 660 barrels of fermenting tanks.
With that said...let's talk about today's beer. The Lost Continent Double IPA is part of the Brewers' Series, but originated from the brewery's Cellar Reserve beer. The beer is brewed with three pounds of hops per barrel in the kettle, and two additions of a half-pound of hops per barrel are added during conditioning as part of the dry hopping regiment. This beer uses Galena, Columbus, Centennial, and Amarillo [or Bravo?] hops for flavor and bitterness; and Columbus, Centennial, and Simcoe for aroma. The beer is then dry-hopped with Summit, Columbus, Amarillo, and Cascade hops, and then dry-hopped again with whole-flower Cascade hops. The beer is also brewed with Idaho 2-Row Brewers’ Malt, German CaraHell, and Vienna malts. Clocking in at a respectable 8.0% ABV, and packing 90+ IBUs of bitterness, this is a big, hoppy, American Double IPA.
Before I dive into the appearance, I just want to say that the bottle presentation is very nice. Even the 4-pack this beer comes in is nice, with lots of information on the 4-pack. The bottle features easily removable gold foil, the bottlecap still features nice decoration, and the bottle is very decorative with catchy golden text that says "Lost Continent." This beer is inviting and interesting.
In low light, the beer pours with 3-fingers worth of slightly off-white head. The head is thick and foamy, and looks very nice. The body of the beer has a slightly orange/copper color in low light, and you can see a solid stream of carbonation rising upwards from the center of the glass, where the Duvel-"D"-nucleation point resides. As the head comes down (and it doesn't stick around for very long, which you'd expect for an 8.0% beer), there is some nice lacing on the glass. In bright light the head is still slightly amber-tinted, and the body of the beer is a nice orange-amber color. This is a transparent beer with moderate carbonation. Maybe just a faint touch of haze.
You do get some boozy apricots on the nose, along with some sweet bread/caramel malt notes. There is a slightly resiny aroma as well, with some hints of pine and citrus. There is a little bit of tangerine on the nose as well. Overall though, the nose doesn't wallop you.
Mmm...the taste is very nice. This is sweet, sugary, and slightly resiny. I'm tasting sweet apricots, sweet tangerines, slight grassy/pine notes, and a slightly bitter and woody finish with a hint of alcohol warming on the up-and-up. This is kind of ambiguous and muddy, with a slightly floral and fruity palate. I'm getting some hints of tropical fruits or something like peaches or strawberry, but nothing definitive. It's really all about the tangerines, hints of apricots, hints of grass/pine, and that bitter and woody finish.
The mouthfeel is perfect, if not even light for the style. This is still a medium-full to full-bodied beer, with a slightly dense/sticky/resiny mouthfeel, and perfect, supportive, medium carbonation. The back end is bitter, woody, and dry, but not at all overbearing. In fact, this finishes with a sweet malt twang...maybe I'm having an off day, but this does not finish like a 90+ IBU beer. Which is a good thing, I guess? Palate depth is good, complexity is low. Up front you get sweet tangerines; you get some apricots and tangerine in the middle, hints of sweet grass and malt; the back end finishes with some pine, some bitterness, and some wood; there is a hint of alcohol warming and some lingering malt sweetness to accompany the dry/hop finish.
I'm feeling a strong Average on this. The nose on this beer is kind of underwhelming, and the palate is kind of muddy. There's some slight astringency/alcohol in the palate as well, with just a twang of grain, but it comes and goes and is hard to notice if you are a seasoned alcoholic. The best thing going for this beer is the woody/bitter/dry aftertaste, and the nice balance of sweet malts that comes and goes. There's also a nice apricot and tangerine note, and some nice sweet malts in the mix. This is a respectable IIPA, and I'd pick it up again at around 10 or 11 bucks for a 4-pack. Would I marry it? Maybe, if I drank 3 or 4 of these before you asked me to. So until next time, don't drink and get married.
Grand Teton Brewing Company is a brewery located at the base of the Teton Mountains in Victor, Idaho. The brewery advertises fresh ingredients, including water from glacial run-off, home-grown malting barley, and hops straight from Southern Idaho hop farms.
The brewery was founded in 1988 by Charlie and Ernie Otto, originally called Otto Brother's Brewing Company located in Wyoming. The brothers secured the first malt beverage manufacturers' permit in Wyoming in 35 years, and were the first modern micro brewery to be opened in the state. The brewery also credits itself with reintroducing the modern Growler, in 1989. After battling Wyoming's state laws, the brothers opened Wyoming's first brewpub in 1992.
Due to the brewpub's popularity, in 1998 the brothers decided to open a brewery at the base of Teton in Victor, Idaho. In the Fall of 2000, the company changed their name from Otto Brother's Brewing Company to Grand Teton Brewing Company to give props to the people of Teton, where the new brewery was located. In April 2009, Charlie Otto sold the brewery to Steve and Ellen Furbacher. Since the Furbachers have taken over, the brewery has continued to expand. Right now the brewery is an 11,000 square foot building, with a 30 barrel brewhouse, and 660 barrels of fermenting tanks.
With that said...let's talk about today's beer. The Lost Continent Double IPA is part of the Brewers' Series, but originated from the brewery's Cellar Reserve beer. The beer is brewed with three pounds of hops per barrel in the kettle, and two additions of a half-pound of hops per barrel are added during conditioning as part of the dry hopping regiment. This beer uses Galena, Columbus, Centennial, and Amarillo [or Bravo?] hops for flavor and bitterness; and Columbus, Centennial, and Simcoe for aroma. The beer is then dry-hopped with Summit, Columbus, Amarillo, and Cascade hops, and then dry-hopped again with whole-flower Cascade hops. The beer is also brewed with Idaho 2-Row Brewers’ Malt, German CaraHell, and Vienna malts. Clocking in at a respectable 8.0% ABV, and packing 90+ IBUs of bitterness, this is a big, hoppy, American Double IPA.
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| With Flash: Lost Continent Double IP |
Before I dive into the appearance, I just want to say that the bottle presentation is very nice. Even the 4-pack this beer comes in is nice, with lots of information on the 4-pack. The bottle features easily removable gold foil, the bottlecap still features nice decoration, and the bottle is very decorative with catchy golden text that says "Lost Continent." This beer is inviting and interesting.
In low light, the beer pours with 3-fingers worth of slightly off-white head. The head is thick and foamy, and looks very nice. The body of the beer has a slightly orange/copper color in low light, and you can see a solid stream of carbonation rising upwards from the center of the glass, where the Duvel-"D"-nucleation point resides. As the head comes down (and it doesn't stick around for very long, which you'd expect for an 8.0% beer), there is some nice lacing on the glass. In bright light the head is still slightly amber-tinted, and the body of the beer is a nice orange-amber color. This is a transparent beer with moderate carbonation. Maybe just a faint touch of haze.
You do get some boozy apricots on the nose, along with some sweet bread/caramel malt notes. There is a slightly resiny aroma as well, with some hints of pine and citrus. There is a little bit of tangerine on the nose as well. Overall though, the nose doesn't wallop you.
 |
| Without Flash: Lost Continent Double IP |
Mmm...the taste is very nice. This is sweet, sugary, and slightly resiny. I'm tasting sweet apricots, sweet tangerines, slight grassy/pine notes, and a slightly bitter and woody finish with a hint of alcohol warming on the up-and-up. This is kind of ambiguous and muddy, with a slightly floral and fruity palate. I'm getting some hints of tropical fruits or something like peaches or strawberry, but nothing definitive. It's really all about the tangerines, hints of apricots, hints of grass/pine, and that bitter and woody finish.
The mouthfeel is perfect, if not even light for the style. This is still a medium-full to full-bodied beer, with a slightly dense/sticky/resiny mouthfeel, and perfect, supportive, medium carbonation. The back end is bitter, woody, and dry, but not at all overbearing. In fact, this finishes with a sweet malt twang...maybe I'm having an off day, but this does not finish like a 90+ IBU beer. Which is a good thing, I guess? Palate depth is good, complexity is low. Up front you get sweet tangerines; you get some apricots and tangerine in the middle, hints of sweet grass and malt; the back end finishes with some pine, some bitterness, and some wood; there is a hint of alcohol warming and some lingering malt sweetness to accompany the dry/hop finish.
Rating: Average
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