Assaultive full body brings bright floral fruiting to refreshingly spruce-tipped gin-like juniper bittering. Grapefruit-peeled orange rind bite lifts juicy pineapple, peach, melon, honeydew, strawberry, apple, passion fruit and mango briskness above cotton-candied spruce sugaring. Oily cilantro-peppered hop resin and stiff alcohol burn sharpen spry fruitful luster as well as tertiary rose-watered lilac, daisy and dandelion nuances.

On tap at Shepherd & Knucklehead, improved updated version of Gordon (now listed as an Imperial Red/ Imperial IPA hybrid) got christened G’Knight in 2012. Orange-bruised cherry-berry ripeness infiltrates sugary malt sweetness to helles bock-like biscuit-y Graham Cracker spine. Sharp hop bite deepens fruity assertion.

Busy ‘big beer’ is part of increasing limited edition Brewmaster Series. Well balanced complexities fortify sienna-coppered medium-to-full body. Orange-oiled dark cherry, red grape, pineapple and apricot fruiting glides safely above biscuit-y cocoa-caramel malting and toasted pecan-almond nuttiness. Swampy peat minerality and resinous piney oaken earthiness fill the backend. Scotch, brandy and sherry innuendoes deepen unassuming 7.9% alcohol flow.

Because of its virtuous Imperial status, adventurous limited edition ruby-crimsoned full body is easily one of the best red ales marketed. Piney IPA fruiting leads the way above caramel-roasted pecan-pied almond toasting. Red grapefruit, cherry, apple, orange and melon juiciness provides tangy up-front sweetness reinforced by ripe prune-raisin-fig conflux and brown-sugared spices.