Leviathan Imperial IPA

By Eric Cioffi

During a recent visit to Brine, an Oyster Bar and Chop House in my newly adopted hometown of Newburyport, MA, I sampled a pair of local craft beers. I already reviewed Peak Organic Summer Session Ale, which was fantastic. The other beer I tried was Harpoon’s Leviathan Imperial IPA.

India Pale Ales were developed in the late 18th and early 19th centuries as a way to keep beers fresh on the long voyage from London to Calcutta. By adding generous amounts of two preservatives, alcohol and hops, brewers could make pale ale that would survive the four-month journey and remain drinkable upon arrival.

While subject to brewer interpretation, an Imperial IPA has double the hops and a higher ABV vs. a regular IPA. An Imperial IPA requires a malt backbone strong enough to support the massive amount of hops required to brew this beer.

Harpoon’s version is a 90 IBU Double IPA with a mix of American hops including Chinook, Centennial, Simcoe, and Amarillo. Harpoon also uses loads of pale malt fortified with caramel malt to provide a sweet malt backbone against the intense hop character.

While I love Harpoon IPA, this interpretation of an Imperial IPA misses the mark for me. In the glass, a beautiful dark copper contrasted nicely with a frothy white head. I expected an aroma bursting with floral and tropical citrus notes; however, it was merely one dimensional and lacked the intense hop aroma found in other Imperial IPAs.

According to Beer Judge Certification standards for Imperial IPAs, hop flavor should be strong and complex with high to absurdly high hop bitterness with just enough malt backbone to support the strong hop character. Malt flavor should be low to medium, and generally clean with some caramel or toasty flavors at low levels.  The magic is in the balance between the bitterness of the hops and the sweetness of the malt.  For my tastes this balance has swung to far in favor of malt sweetness.  Yes the beer is bitter.  The hops are certainly present.  However the malt overshadows the hops. In my opinion, a Double IPA should showcase the hops this one does not. I think I would enjoy this beer in the winter where the 10% ABV and malty sweetness would be more appropriate.

Imperial IPA | 10% ABV
Rating: 65