Barley Mowat 

An imperial version of one of Phillips’ best beers? Why sure, I’ll have a go at that! Super Krypton is an amped up version of their regular Krypton Rye PA (Rye Ale/IPA), and it’s the latest in the seemingly never-ending string of Phillips speciality releases (side note: keep ‘em coming guys!).

On pouring, this guy has a much lighter colour than I would have figured given the usual heavy malt profile of Rye Ales. The colour is a light amber, almost yellow. However, there’s a decent amount of cloudiness, meaning this beer hasn’t gone through a filter. That’s a good thing.

Nose is all hops–citra hops to be specific, but something’s missing here. I get the floral punch of citra, but the tropical fruitiness is absent. In fact, there’s not a lot here except the citrus florals. But screw the nose, there’s a party in my stomach, and Super Krypton’s invited (was that as bad as it sounded in my head? It was? Well screw you, go start your own blog, then!)

Huh. The body is thinner than I’d ideally like from a Rye Ale, and the mouthfeel is definitely trending towards watery. In fact, that unique rye punch to the body is barely perceptible. The hops are definitely there, but again they’re diluted by something… medicinal. I wonder what’s causing that… oh yeah, 8.5% ABV, and you taste every single point of that.

In the end, this is not a bad beer, but not one that I’d pick up again. The massive booziness detracts from, and thins out, what should be the focus: the thick creamy body of a big rye malt IPA. Ultimately, I kinda felt like I was stealing from my parent’s medicine cabinet while they were out of town. “It tastes sorta like cough syrup” really isn’t a flattering tasting note for any liquor, but especially beer.

Lastly, most Phillips beers suffer from a metallic tang on the palate from either piping or yeast, and this one is no exception. The only real issue here is that this tang only amplifies the booziness.

Coles notes: