Beer Review: Harpoon Leviathan Imperial IPA
This was given to me, by Kevin at the Liquor Outlet in Boonton NJ. He said he hadn’t tried it, but knowing I’m a hop head, he thought I could kick the tires on this beer. And Kick I will! The Harpoon Leviathan Imperial IPA is one of five beers in Harpoon’s Leviathan series, which include a Saison Royale, Big Bohemian Pils, Quad and a Baltic Porter. 
Appearance:
Harpoon Leviathan IPA Clarity
Holy Clarity, Batman! This beer has to be the clearest beer I’ve seen, especially from a dry-hopped IPA. It pours a crystal clear copper color with a moderate head. Unfortunately the head quickly dissipates to a thin collar. I think IPA, especially American and American Imperial IPA’s need to retain the head to continue to release the wonderful hop aromas.
Aroma:
I dig this aroma, at first it just had a sweet candy aroma. As you take in a couple more whiffs, it has this interesting earthy / pineapple / citrus / fruity aroma with a hint of alcohol.
Harpoon Leviathan IPA
Taste:
The Leviathans mouthfeel is a bit thinner then I thought it would be, which is not a bad thing, I just had a notion in my head of what I thought the beer would taste like based on the aroma. This beer has 122 IBU’s and you can taste them all. It is a very hop heavy beer, but surprisingly not a very bitter beer. This beer has a good bit of malt sweetness (my initial sense from the aroma) and a very nice transition of several flavors from the hops. Unfortunately for this beer the Alcohol is a dominate player in the flavor unlike Harpoons Big Bohemian Pils at 9% which had no noticeable alcohol presence.
Overall Impression:
The alcohol plus the sweetness really gives this beer a rum aftertaste, if you like that, you’ll love this beer, if you don’t you won’t. This is a 9.3% abv beer, so a bit of alcohol should not be surprising, but with this beer it really factors into the flavor. I liked the the well balanced bitterness, (especially with 122 IBU’s), the unique aroma, but for me the slight rum aftertaste didn’t fit into this beer.
Glassware: Tulip
Calories: starting at 22°Plato and an ABV of 9.3% would put the final gravity around 5.5° Plato resulting in about 316 calories per 12oz..
Simply Beer Rating: 86, give it a try and let the world know what you think!
I would really like to try this. I know we get Harpoon down here but haven’t seen any of this series.
I also had the Bohemian Pils on Thursday as part of last weeks Beer Brawl, which I’ll be posting in a couple of hours. It was really good.
I’ve been seeing this at Gary’s Wines for a few weeks now, and have been curious about it. Thank you for the timely review!
Daniel, glad you liked the review, go try it and let us know what you think of it. I love hearing other opinions on beer!
I tried this beer on tap during Syracuse beer week last Novemeber and was very impressed. Just bought a 4 pack for about $10 at wegmans, and I can definitely see what I enjoyed so much. There is a lot of hop flavor without a ton of bitterness. There definitely is a limited alcohol taste, which seems more pronouced with the bottles compared to the draft last year. But overall this is a great smooth IIPA that I will be trying again.