Purchased: 22oz bottle bought at West Lakeview Liquors in Chicago, IL; 2013
Style/ABV: Imperial IPA, 8.5%
Reported IBUs: ?
Tonight I'm looking at another beer from the 18th Street Brewery. I'm pretty sure these guys have finished up with the construction of their brewery, but tonight's beer was brewed at Pipeworks. In case you missed it...the 18th Street Brewery is a tentative brewery that is going to be based in Gary, Indiana. Their Kickstarter was a success, and you can check them out on Facebook.
The bottle of the Galaxy Slayer reads:
The beer pours into a very sexy body. The body is a wonderful honey/gold-yellow, with a finger's worth of hazy, honey-tinted head. In bright light the beer is a vibrant yellow/gold, and the head takes on more of a white color. There's nice carbonation streaming upwards in the form of tiny bubbles, and as the head gives way my glass is being coated with dense lacing. It's a good looking Imperial IPA.
Having bought two bottles of this beer, I had an opportunity to drink one earlier in the week. With that insight in mind, I would say the aroma is somewhat deceptive. There's HUGE resinous/pungent citrus on the nose, with big orange, grapefruit, and passionfruit. It's super pungent, resinous, and dank as hell. Beneath the pungent hop kick is some underlying woodiness, tons of dryness, and some bread/caramel.
The first sip is initially very inviting, as you get kicked with citrus and passion fruit up front. That quickly transitions into a hugely bitter and woody sensation, and then you get blasted with scorched earth dryness and hop bitterness. This beer could have been called "earth scorcher," except that "galaxy slayer" is about 20 times more kick ass. If you like your Imperial IPAs super bitter -- kind of like Green Flash's Palate Wrecker -- than this will be right up your alley. If you are looking for something more sweet, or balanced, or tempered...this is not going to work for you. Still, there's big sweetness up front, with honey, passionfruit, sweet citrus, mango...you even get a juicy, refreshing moment. And then the bitter clocks in, and suddenly the mood goes from fun and happy to bitter citrus rind, wood, earthy tobacco, and intense bitterness.
SooooooooOOOooOOooO...what do about this beer. I don't want to fault this beer for being too intense. For starters: the 8.5% is completely undetectable in this. This beer masks the alcohol wonderfully. Second, this is an extreme beer. I wonder if this beer is going to taste aggressively sweet for new beer drinkers (followed by aggressively bitter). I maintain that this beer goes beyond something like Sixpoint's Resin, and punches that Palate Wrecker level of intensity. It's an intense beer, and it doesn't dial up the sweetness. This beer is bitter. And dry. It's a scorcher. This is not a particularly refreshing beer, though it has potential to pair with strong, dry spices. The palate depth is great - with a medium-full body, just enough supporting carbonation, and a death valley dry finish - this beer crushes your mouth. Complexity is a bit one note. You get sweet hops up front, citrus, passionfruit; that rolls into pungent/resinous citrus rind, woody bitterness, earthy tobacco; the finish is dry, dry dry, with lingering rind, some pine, and as the beer warms, hints of malt (bread/caramel). Damn.
Galactus doesn't have shit on this beer. This beer is...incredible. It's also intense, extreme, and yeah. If ever there was an argument for situation beers, this is it. I can't go higher than a Strong Average on this. For whatever reason, what works in the Palate Wrecker doesn't work here...and I'm not sure what that is. Perhaps I need to dial up the Palate Wrecker and give it another shot to see if my preference for bitterness has mellowed out, though I'm skeptical. I love bitter beers, I do. This one is super, duper bitter. It's bone dry. It's literally a scorched earth Imperial IPA. I'm reaching for the water as I work my way through this. But, as I said...this beer is not without purpose or application. This beer will absolutely stand up to intense, over-the-top spiciness. Habanero dry rub? This beer will crush that. Ghost Pepper chili? Crushed. This is a beer that I would pair with wings, intense dry rubs, spiced chili, and other insanely spicy foods. At around 10 bucks a bomber, I would only recommend you try this beer if you are an extreme beer thrill seeker™.
Random Thought: I hope they brew this again in the future, because I'd love to revisit this at some point. My idea was to get a bottle of Palate Wrecker and do a comparison side-by-side, but I'm fairly certain that Palate Wrecker is well past its brew date (for 2013), and is no longer available on my shelves...a pity, I suppose. Which is why I hope to do the comparison in the future.
Reported IBUs: ?
Tonight I'm looking at another beer from the 18th Street Brewery. I'm pretty sure these guys have finished up with the construction of their brewery, but tonight's beer was brewed at Pipeworks. In case you missed it...the 18th Street Brewery is a tentative brewery that is going to be based in Gary, Indiana. Their Kickstarter was a success, and you can check them out on Facebook.
The bottle of the Galaxy Slayer reads:
"As awesome as the cosmos, as bitter as the void...Galaxy Slayer takes no interstellar prisoners. With the help of a few good men, he leads a crusade against the total corruption of outer space. It's solo up there, and dark. "Impose radio silence. Over.""This one is brewed with them Galaxy hops, or at least I'm lead to believe. Galaxy hops are a strong, high-alpha acid hop, with hints of citrus and passionfruit. Let's glass this one up.
 |
| 18th Street Galaxy Slayer |
The beer pours into a very sexy body. The body is a wonderful honey/gold-yellow, with a finger's worth of hazy, honey-tinted head. In bright light the beer is a vibrant yellow/gold, and the head takes on more of a white color. There's nice carbonation streaming upwards in the form of tiny bubbles, and as the head gives way my glass is being coated with dense lacing. It's a good looking Imperial IPA.
Having bought two bottles of this beer, I had an opportunity to drink one earlier in the week. With that insight in mind, I would say the aroma is somewhat deceptive. There's HUGE resinous/pungent citrus on the nose, with big orange, grapefruit, and passionfruit. It's super pungent, resinous, and dank as hell. Beneath the pungent hop kick is some underlying woodiness, tons of dryness, and some bread/caramel.
The first sip is initially very inviting, as you get kicked with citrus and passion fruit up front. That quickly transitions into a hugely bitter and woody sensation, and then you get blasted with scorched earth dryness and hop bitterness. This beer could have been called "earth scorcher," except that "galaxy slayer" is about 20 times more kick ass. If you like your Imperial IPAs super bitter -- kind of like Green Flash's Palate Wrecker -- than this will be right up your alley. If you are looking for something more sweet, or balanced, or tempered...this is not going to work for you. Still, there's big sweetness up front, with honey, passionfruit, sweet citrus, mango...you even get a juicy, refreshing moment. And then the bitter clocks in, and suddenly the mood goes from fun and happy to bitter citrus rind, wood, earthy tobacco, and intense bitterness.
SooooooooOOOooOOooO...what do about this beer. I don't want to fault this beer for being too intense. For starters: the 8.5% is completely undetectable in this. This beer masks the alcohol wonderfully. Second, this is an extreme beer. I wonder if this beer is going to taste aggressively sweet for new beer drinkers (followed by aggressively bitter). I maintain that this beer goes beyond something like Sixpoint's Resin, and punches that Palate Wrecker level of intensity. It's an intense beer, and it doesn't dial up the sweetness. This beer is bitter. And dry. It's a scorcher. This is not a particularly refreshing beer, though it has potential to pair with strong, dry spices. The palate depth is great - with a medium-full body, just enough supporting carbonation, and a death valley dry finish - this beer crushes your mouth. Complexity is a bit one note. You get sweet hops up front, citrus, passionfruit; that rolls into pungent/resinous citrus rind, woody bitterness, earthy tobacco; the finish is dry, dry dry, with lingering rind, some pine, and as the beer warms, hints of malt (bread/caramel). Damn.
Rating: Average (3.5/5.0 Untappd)
Galactus doesn't have shit on this beer. This beer is...incredible. It's also intense, extreme, and yeah. If ever there was an argument for situation beers, this is it. I can't go higher than a Strong Average on this. For whatever reason, what works in the Palate Wrecker doesn't work here...and I'm not sure what that is. Perhaps I need to dial up the Palate Wrecker and give it another shot to see if my preference for bitterness has mellowed out, though I'm skeptical. I love bitter beers, I do. This one is super, duper bitter. It's bone dry. It's literally a scorched earth Imperial IPA. I'm reaching for the water as I work my way through this. But, as I said...this beer is not without purpose or application. This beer will absolutely stand up to intense, over-the-top spiciness. Habanero dry rub? This beer will crush that. Ghost Pepper chili? Crushed. This is a beer that I would pair with wings, intense dry rubs, spiced chili, and other insanely spicy foods. At around 10 bucks a bomber, I would only recommend you try this beer if you are an extreme beer thrill seeker™.
Random Thought: I hope they brew this again in the future, because I'd love to revisit this at some point. My idea was to get a bottle of Palate Wrecker and do a comparison side-by-side, but I'm fairly certain that Palate Wrecker is well past its brew date (for 2013), and is no longer available on my shelves...a pity, I suppose. Which is why I hope to do the comparison in the future.
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