Goose Island The Illinois

Brewed By: Goose Island Beer Company (owned by AB InBev) in Chicago, Illinois

Purchased: 12oz bottle from a 4-pack bought at Jewel in Chicago, IL; 2014 (bottled on 26 Feb 2014)

Style/ABV: Imperial IPA, 9.0% 

Reported IBUs: 95

I've been on a malty dark beer kick as of late, so I thought I would break up that delicious monotony with Goose Island's new hop bomb. About Goose Island:

Goose Island is a Chicago-based brewery that began as a brewpub on Clybourn, which opened on May 1988. The actual brewery opened on 1995, and is located on the Southwest side of Chicago. The second brewpub, located in Wrigleyville by the Chicago Cubs, was opened in 1999. On March 28, 2011, Goose Island sold 58% of the brewery to Anheuser-Busch. The remaining 42% of the brewery is supposed to be acquired by A-B InBev in the future, and there has been much discussion about the brewery's takeover. On November 16th, founder and CEO, John Hall, announced he would be leaving Goose Island. On January 1st, 2013, Anheuser-Busch "veteran" Andy Goeler will take over Goose Island. Additionally, around the same time as John Hall's departure, resident barrel-program leader John Laffler also announced his departure from Goose Island. There have been many changes regarding Goose Island...so we will see what the future has in store for Goose Island. 

The Illinois is a big, Imperial, hop bomb. This is one brewed with 2-Row, Special Pale, C-20, C-60, and Cara Red malts; and features Chinook, Cascade, Citra, and Meridian hops. I'm expecting big hops, so let's see what we got.

Goose Island The Illinois

This pours very typical to the style, and as described on the website. The beer pours into a slightly hazy, deeply golden-orange body, and produces three fingers of hop-fueled head. The head is soapy and sticky, and picks up some orange/amber tones. I can see large carbonation bubbles slowly popping upwards in this, and as the head drops off you get nice lacing. There is a nice centimeter of sustaining head.

On the aroma: everything I hoped for and more. I'm getting HUGE hop smells here, with resinous citrus (lemon, orange, pine, zest spice) up front. There's juicy oranges and some tropical fruit juice and fruit punch in the mix, courtesy of the Meridian hop maybe? The aroma has tons of hop spice, with citrus zest, white pepper, and big resin. There's a hint of grass in the aroma. It's just a big juicy hop-fueled aroma....good stuff.

The taste follows through with a slam dunk. You get huge Meridian hops up front, with fruit punch and an almost sugary, grape/passion fruit note. Then the beer hits you with tangerine, orange, sugary lemon, and some resinous pine and citrus/grapefruit, and crushable grassy notes. The back malt end leans towards biscuit/cracker. 

This is a very simple Imperial IPA with top-notch execution. The mouthfeel is medium-bodied, with good carbonation and tons of juicy hops to move things along. I feel like this is on the lighter side of 95 IBUs, but you do pick up tons of hops in the taste. There's pleasant drying in this, and the beer is nicely attenuated. There's no residual sugars to get you down. So...it drinks very easy for 9%. It also had good palate depth and decent complexity. Up front: a blast of sweet fruit punch, tangerines, sugary lemons, and tropical candies. I'm going to guess that is the Meridian hops in full assault. The mids dial up some resinous lemon, orange, citrus, pine, and grapefruit. The back end gets a bit more resinous and dry, with lingering lemon and grapefruit, a hint of onion, and lingering cracker/biscuit malt character. The finish is professional and dry, like a happy ending.

Rating: Above-Average (3.5/5.0 Untappd)

Like the Grapefruit Slam IPA, I'll toss this a Light Light Above-Average here. This is a very delicious beer showcasing a unique hop. If you like your Imperial IPAs on the sweeter, more balanced side of life...I would recommend this beer. The Meridian hops (and Citra hops) provide big juicy, fruity notes that are easy to wrap your palate around. Food pairings here include your typical American bar food, Mexican food, spicy wings, and on my menu tonight, fish tacos. I easily recommend this at $10 a 4-pack.

Random Thought: At some point, I'll try to get the 312 Pale Ale up in here.