Archive for the tag “Double IPA”

05 Feb 2014

CELLAR SERIES: Double Eye PA – Mikkeller

mikkeller-double-eye-bttl14.0% ABV
Purchased at Pangaea Bottle Shoppe ($6.99/11.2 oz. bottle), cellared for 11 months, and poured into taster glasses.

This super-sized double IPA from Mikkeller pours a cloudy butterscotch color with a tight, dirty white head and some flecks of yeast floating on the surface.  It has a super-strong nose of boozy citrus, mostly oranges and tangerines, along with some lemon and wood notes.   The first swallow is a wallop, with butterscotch, hard alcohol, and kindling wood most notably emerging, but there is also a grass and pine bitterness on the finish.  Double Eye PA goes through a number of flavor phases, and while 11 months in the cellar has not dulled the intensity, it does re-emerge from its slumber as more an intensely hopped blonde barley wine than an Imperial IPA.  However, the complexity and masterful storytelling have not diminished, as everything from blonde caramel, crackers, citrus fruits, brown sugar, honey, and whiskey makes an appearance on the tongue.

See our original review here.

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MikkellerDoubleEyePA-Cellar

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03 Dec 2013

Racer X – Bear Republic Brewing Company

racerx8.3% ABV
Purchased at Curtis Park Market ($7.99/22 oz. bottle) and poured into tulip glasses.

This beefed-up version of Bear Republic’s popular Racer 5 IPA pours a dried apricot orange with a tight white head, while the nose offers candied citrus, dank hops, oranges and peaches.  There is a nice, not-too-sticky sweetness on the first swallow, with apricot, peach, citrus fruits, grassy hops, and bubblegum all making appearances, along with some black pepper and cracker grains. The bitterness on the finish is on the sweeter end of the spectrum, and the settling flavors are bubblegum, peach, and orange, with just a touch of pine.  Racer X has a compelling and quirky finish for the style, with bubblegum, pie crust, wet grass, tangerine, and hops candy all showing up in this extremely drinkable DIPA.

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RacerX

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06 Sep 2013
1 Comment

Hercules Double IPA – Great Divide Brewing Company

hercules_doubleipa_bttl10.0% ABV, 85 IBUs
Purchased at Best Damn Beer Shop in San Diego ($8.00/22 oz. bottle) and poured into tulip glasses

This award-winning beer from Denver-based Great Divide pours an opaque apricot orange with a tight ivory head.  Even though Hercules is a double-digit Double IPA, the most prominent aroma here is the caramel malt backbone, along with some blood orange zest, wet grass, and butterscotch.  The first swallow is pretty smooth, with the spice and citrus-heavy hop character breaking through on the second wave of flavor.  Alcohol-soaked citrus owns the finish, and Hercules is prominently boozy overall, with an omnipresent but never annoying caramel sweetness and a fair amount of grassy hops and cracker spice.

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Hercules

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Posted in Beer Review, Double IPA and tagged , , , , ,
13 Aug 2013

The Roustabout – Societe Brewing Company

Screen Shot 2013-08-12 at 8.09.41 PMSoCal Beercation Edition

9.3% ABV
Purchased at Societe Brewing Company tasting room ($2/4 oz. serving) and poured into taster glasses.

This Double IPA from San Diego-based Societe pours a completely clear straw yellow with a minimal white head.  The Roustabout is a prototypically big SoCal DIPA with a prominent nose of hop flowers, pine, grass, hay, and some citrus zest, not unlike rolling in a country field.  It offers an absolutely immaculate candied hop flavor on first swallow, followed by waves of grass and pine, and finishing with sweet biscuits and oily tree needles. There is a surprisingly light mouthfeel here for such a dank beer, and the hop flavors are absolutely brilliant, perhaps perfect.  Societe has produced a beer that definitely takes the drinker on a journey, as myriad types of IPA tastes dance across the palette (even cracked pepper makes a cameo), never straying too far in any one direction.

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Societe

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11 Jul 2013
1 Comment

Heelch O’Hops – Anderson Valley Brewing Company

lHeelchOHopsBottle

8.7% ABV
Purchased at Curtis Park Market ($6.99/22 oz. bottle) and poured into tulip glasses.

This Double IPA from Boonville-based Anderson Valley – makers of the venerable Boont Amber Ale – pours a solid cantaloupe gold with a mid-sized dusty white head and thick lacing on the glass.  The nose leaps out of the bottle on first pour, dominated by frosty pine and bitter-sweet citrus, mostly lemons and grapefruits with some candied orange and dewy grass.  Pine sap bitterness and grapefruit zest obliterate the tongue on first swallow, making a monstrous impression on the palette in the vein of West Coast hop bombs.  Although it gets a little more buttery and cracker-y on subsequent swallows, Heelch O’Hops is drinkable but not for timid palettes, and yet it’s not particularly nuanced either.

toasts-3.5    3.5 Toasts

HeelchOHops

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Posted in Beer Review, Double IPA and tagged , , ,
16 Apr 2013
1 Comment

Double Eye PA – Mikkeller

mikkeller-double-eye-bttl14% ABV
Purchased at Pangaea Bottle Shop ($6.99/11.2 oz. bottle) and poured into tasting glasses.

Legendary Danish brewer Mikkeller produces this eye-popping 14% ABV Imperial IPA, which pours an opaque cantaloupe orange with a tight white head, and a strong nose of orange, hard alcohol, and pine needles.  Double Eye PA is perfectly brutalizing upon first swallow, with alcoholic citrus and butterscotch candy taking the lead, and a palette-crusing pine bitterness bringing up the rear.  This remarkable brew goes big on every possible flavor profile of a Double IPA – sweet, bitter, pine-y, citrus-y, boozy, and with strong suggestions of butterscotch and caramel.  Each small sip packs a wallop of diverse flavors, making a monstrous impression on the taste buds, and yet the end result has a curious sort of balance.  Take your time and let this beer do its work.  One caveat: there is copious yeast sediment in the bottle that can dilute the flavors, so be careful not to overpour.

toasts-4.5   4.5 Toasts

Mikeller_DoubleEye

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Posted in Beer Review, Double IPA and tagged , , , , , ,
22 Oct 2012
1 Comment

Audition Double IPA – Sierra Nevada

8.5% ABV
Purchased at Sierra Nevada Brewery Gift Shop ($9.99/25.4 oz. bottle) and poured into tulip glasses.

Sierra Nevada’s Audition began as a one-off product of their Beer Camp program, briefly appeared on draft at their Chico taproom, and finally was bottled in limited release for sale at the brewery.  It didn’t even receive the benefit of a legitimate Sierra Nevada label, just plain text on a green background.  Audition pours a clear, bright gold with a pillow-y and persistent white head – check out the copious bubbles lazily floating to the surface while you wait for the foam to subside – and a mountain-pine nose of resinous needles and fresh fruit zest.  A brutalizing West Coast-style Double IPA, Audition delivers a mouthful of piney, palette-busting hops on the first swallow, backed up by lemon rind bitterness and a cracker/spice quality indicative of Simcoe hop use.  This beer is a real treat for hop-bomb freaks, but it’s also strangely balanced between the citrus, pine, and spice notes endemic to super IPAs.

    4.5 Toasts

  4.5 Toasts

Posted in Beer Review, Double IPA and tagged , , , , ,
09 Mar 2012
1 Comment

Hoptologist DIPA (Knee Deep Brewing)

9% ABV, 102 IBUs
Purchased at Pangaea Bottle Shop ($8.99/22 oz. bottle) and poured into tulip glasses.

His Notes:

This brew from Lincoln-based Knee Deep Brewing won the Double IPA Festival during San Francisco Beer Week.  Hoptologist pours golden amber with an ivory head, and offers a tropical and fruity nose similar to strawberry syrup, along with a surprising maple glaze scent.  It has a very unique taste for an Imperial IPA, with very little of the expected pine, citrus, or floral flavors upon first swallow.  Instead, Hoptologist is honeyed and woody, with almost a graham cracker character to the mouth-coating finish.  Only after those original and intriguing flavors fade does the palate-crushing bitterness come in and take over the tongue.

  4 Toasts

Her Notes:

    4.5 Toasts


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