Samuel Adams Hallertau Imperial Pilsner

It is Sunday and football season is over. That does not mean that you have to stop drinking beers on Sunday! This lager is another Christmas present from my big brother. I have had it over a year ago, was uber impressed and looking forward to it again as my first drink of the evening (8.1% abv woot woot). Fellow hophead flying nugget nectar Alex has had this recently too and gave it some applause. Lets see how I make out...

Appearance: 1/2 finger of head with constant carbonation stemming from the bottom of my pilsner glass. Appears light in nature and cherry wood color with shades of green, but upon closer inspection it seems cloudy from the hops.

Smell: The label says "An Intense Hop Experience" but that is not what my big nostriled nose smells. A blend of caramelesque malts with some exotic floral hops from the lands of Hogwarts forest.

Taste: Sweet tasting like a cararmel, as the smell was. Notice alot more hopiness in my palete as it savors the hop resins. Noticing some citrus on top of the floral hops.

Mouthfeel: Pure enjoyable bitterness just raping your entire mouth after you drink it. However at the same time the sweet caramel malts somehow hide the bitterness I am in heaven. They do an amazing job of hiding the massive amount of hops used. (According to www.samueladams.com, they use a killer 12 pounds of Hallertau hops per barrel, while their Boston Lager only uses 1 pound of barrel).

Drinkability: Very well balanced and built beer. Jim Koch goes to Germany to hand pick these hops and it definitely shows. Would easily drink this again and this was a pleasant change from the typical IPAs that I have. 9/10.