I’ll be honest…I’m having the toughest time figuring out how to pronounce this beer let along what it means.  I’m leaning towards it meaning Governor. Anywho, regardless of these factors it is apparent that Oskar Blues mean for this Imperial IPA to be king (or at least reside in a lofty position in the craft beer realm).  They utilize Summit hops for everything from bittering to dry hopping so essentially this is like a single hop IPA.

When gazing at this beer I summed up a couple things.  1)  while using dark munich malts this beer is relatively on the lighter side of the spectrum and 2) I am going to like this beer for that very reason.  The finished product is golden honey color with a creamy yellow-ish head that sticks around.  It pours thick for an IPA and given the abv I could see the carbonation fighting its way to the surface.

Wow…an interesting hop profile on this beer.  Definitely on the citrus side with a pungent aspect, this hop invaded my nostrils.  Floral, citrus, and pungent it did reek of yellow grapefruit.  Now here is where the rest of the ingredients harmonized well with the hops.  The rye malt added some spicy almost making it seem as thought it were the hops themselves, the abv provided some heat giving it some muscle, and the malts played upon that floral notion to display a gentle honey’d aroma.

All around I give this beer high marks.  The hops are the focal point and cling to the tongue and palate, yet everything else falls into place.  I’d say this runs along the veins of Hopslam for sure.  I’m left with a sticky sensation from the hops, a sweet malt backing, and a warming abv to let me know this has some kick.  Gubna somehow found it’s way into my top 10 Imperial/Double IPAs.  Makes me wish we had this one at our challenge.