Which also happens to be the reviewer's first beer review.

This is from my Ithurtzwhen IPA, a 12% monster beer I made last April and gave a few bottles to my friend at work. The beer was so alcoholic that the yeast died off (very happily, I might add!) and never carbonated in the bottle so you have to force carbonate each one individually. It literally has taken almost a year for the beer to age to the point of drinkability.

But I'll let Steve describe the experience.

Wow, my first beer review ...

Brown with a hint of red, but also with an very deep orange underlying hue... ( I might even describe it more dark reddish orange than any shade of brown).  Slight to moderate chill haze.

Holds a white, fluffy quarter inch head like meringue on a pie

Powerful citrus nose (nose is an understatement!), almost oily (if you can actually smell "oily"), like a bitter orange peel - maybe some piney smells in there too?  More floral and piney as I got about half way down the pint glass.  Every now and then, I think I can smell the alcohol, but its hard to say.

Malty sweet!  Front of the tongue got assaulted on the first taste, but got much better after that.

Taste is hard to pin down (which is always a problem for me with a big beer) - reminds me of other big beers brewed with fresh (wet) hops.  Some sort of dried dark fruit (raisony? maybe darker?).  Strong but veddy delicious!

Mouth feel is great/huge.  Saw that coming once I noticed the almost "syrupy" pour!

NICE strong bitter on the sides and back of the tongue.  Ever so slightly astringent, which goes very well with the bitter (makes me thirstier!).

Alcohol is "evident" on the roof of the mouth - very good with the bitter flavors.

Impressions:  I was almost afraid to try this, but I'm glad I did.  Looks good, tastes even better!  Big alcohol!  Bigger hops!  Even bigger malt!  Perfect for my big hop-head thirst!  Drinks like an 8-9% beer, which is dangerous!  I'm already considering the next one since I drank the first one in the 10 minutes time that it took me to type this!

Too bad the yeast wasn't just a little tougher; would be nice to not have to force carbonate.  However, my hats off to the yeast - it had a huge fight on its hands!

WOOT!  Good job. Steve likes!  Am I going to have headache tomorrow?

--

Steve (Hiccup!)

Have you ever tried to calculate the IBU?  (Not even sure if you can do that...)

The IBU (International Bitterness Units) calculated to around 120. I say around because of this (from Wikipedia)

The bittering effect is less noticeable in beers with a high quantity of malt, so a higher IBU is needed in heavier beers to balance the flavor. For example, an Imperial Stout may have an IBU of 50, but will taste less bitter than an English Bitter with an IBU of 30, because the first beer uses much more malt than the second. The technical limit for IBU's is around 100, others have tried to surpass this number but there is no real gauge after 100 IBUs when it comes to taste threshold.