Jeff Eggleston
Established in 1998 in Bakersfield, Calif., Lengthwise Brewing Co. brews big beers including its ever popular Zeus Imperial IPA.
Zeus was the sky and thunder God in ancient Greek religion who ruled as king of the Gods of Mount Olympus and this bold beer deserves the title of the strongest of the Greek Gods.
The brewery’s website describes how the Zeus’ make-up:
Mainly 2-row barley with a touch of 40L crystal malt. Zeus hops in the kettle and intense dry hopping with Citra hops in both the fermenter and bright beer tank imparts citrus and tropical fruit overtones.
The bottle-conditioned imperial IPA pours a slightly hazy gold color with a finger of partly off-white head and creamy, spotty lacing and the aroma is teeming with peaches, nectarines, overripe oranges, melons and aromatic flowers.
Taste is quite complex with flavors of apples, assorted citrus, orange peel, plums, pine, toffee, caramel and some yeast and brown sugar.1
The carbonation is average, the mouthfeel is chewy and coating like caramel syrup and the aftertaste is of candy, caramel and bitter citrus with a touch of sweet malt and brown sugar in the background. The 9.7 percent abv is mostly hidden and shows itself only slightly as the beer warms, and keeps the balance quite well, with the hops being dominant, yet allowing the malt sweetness to still play its part.
