Beer #320 – Double IPA by Stoudt’s Brewing Company

Double IPA by Stoudt's Brewing Company

TGIF…and boy do I feel like I could use a weekend right about now.

Beer #320 is Double IPA by Stoudt’s Brewing Company brewed in Adamstown in the neighboring state of Pennsylvania.  This American DIPA or Imperial IPA has large ABV of 10%.

I like the ANTMO style of doing the review…so I will continue.

Apperance – Cloudy orange amber with a slight off-white head.

Nose – Big & malty caramel struck me first.  Pineapple juice, honey, herbs & alcohol make up  the rest of the aromas.

Taste – Nice and sweet with pineapple juice like flavor up front.  Then it gets malty with the sweetness of the caramel.  It had a pleasant bitterness…not too much or too little.  There was a very slight alcohol taste that got a bit stronger as it warmed up.

Mouthfeel – Fairly heavy body, a bit thick & a bit syrupy.  Very smooth with it being a bit under carbonated.  The ABV is hidden nicely.

Overall – A very good DIPA.  Not the best I have had but I enjoyed it.  I liked the more noticeable pineapple flavor…it was quite the change of pace from the typical grapefruit.

Rating: B+

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Beer #193 – Squall IPA by Dogfish Head

Squall IPA by Dogfish Head

Time to take a break and get away from real life for a few days.  Enter the cool little town of Jim Thorpe in Pennsylvania.  Bike riding with my wife, relaxing on the balcony of the Inn at Jim Thorpe, just plain enjoying life…good times.

Beer #193 is Squall IPA by Dogfish Head from Milton, Delaware.

Stats – American DIPA or an Imperial IPA with an ABV of 9%
Appearance –  Amber with a small white head
Nose – Sweet pink grapefruit juice, caramel malts, tropical fruit similar to pineapple
Taste – Caramel malts up front, pine and the fruitiness of the grapefruit hit next, a bit of an alcohol presence with a bitter finish
Mouthfeel – A bit heavy body wise, sort of sticky and syrupy, low carbonation

This was another really nice beer by Sam and company from Dogfish Head.  It was a slow sipper for me as the alcohol was making itself known.  It was pleasant to sip this from the deck of the Inn at Jim Thorpe on a beautiful night.  Cheers!

Rating: B+

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Beer #179 – Hop Stoopid Ale by Lagunitas Brewing Company

Hop Stoopid Ale by Lagunitas Brewing Company

Summertime and the living is greasy…sure felt like summer today…and I love it! Sweat, sweat and more sweat.  So much better than 8 inches of snow or 15 degrees above zero.  The heat makes me thirsty…so lets drink!

My drink of choice today is  beer #179, Hop Stoopid Ale by Lagunitas Brewing Company from Petaluma, California.  An American Double IPA or Imperial IPA, this brew has an ABV of 8%.

The color of honey was the best way to describe this and look at that head…huge and white and frothy.  It left some of the best lacing in the glass of any beer I have had to date.  Excellent nose…hops, hops, hops, and a bit of sweet malts with aromas of grapefruit, flowery scents, caramel, and a bit of lemon. Talk about a hop explosion taste wise.  The taste was all about hops, grapefruit, pine…you get the picture.  Even know I smelled the malts, they really get masked in the taste.  This was one bitter brew with a lovely bitter aftertaste that lasted quite a long time.  It had a body somewhere between medium and heavy with lots of carbonation.  Beware…it is easy to drink (at least for hop heads) but the alcohol, hidden well, rears its ugly head.  I think I drank this too quick as I was quite parched and was feeling slightly tipsy from it.  I know…call me a lightweight.

Yum! This was really, really good.  Me likes quite a bit.  A Kingly brew indeed! This one goes out to a fellow co-worker who once visited Petluma with another co-worker (both men) on a business trip and visited a winery…together.

Rating: A

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Beer #140 – Detour Double India Pale Ale by Uinta Brewing Company

Detour Double India Pale Ale by Uinta Brewing Company

I decided to break out a chair, sit out on the deck in the glorious sun, and just relax…and drink a beer.

Beer #140 is Detour Double India Pale Ale by Unita Brewing Company.  Uinta hails from Salt Lake City, UT.  This beer is a product of their Crooked Line Series that are bottled in a 750 ml corked top bottle and according to the nice little tag attached to the bottle “bent beers that sidestep traditional brewing techniques and ingredients”.  This beer is an American Double IPA or an Imperial IPA.  It has a whopping 9.5% ABV.  I love the label on this bottle, it depicts someone hiking with their faithful companion (I’ll take a cat instead of a dog any day of the week) in a mountainous environment.  I love hiking, the mountains, long walk on beaches, ABBA…wait…what???

This brew had a nice clear amber color tinged with orange.  A huge fluffy off-white head sat atop this beer and it left awesome rings of lacing in the glass.  The bubbles that were rising to the top moved really slow.  The aroma was weird to me, very herby.  I got only a small amount of those awesome IPA aromas I love, grapefruit, pine, etc.  The caramel malts were more prominent in the aroma then the hoppy stuff.  To be honest, I wasn’t a fan of the nose at all.  I took a big sip, the caramel malt flavor (sort of sweet) was strong up front and then the hops took over.  The pine came through and rode out through the rest of the the way till the sightly bitter end.  This was quite the heavy bodied brew.  It was almost syrupy.  The carbonation gently stung the tongue.  Even know the alcohol for a 9.5% ABV was hidden really well, the odd herby nose made this not a highly drinkable beer for me.  Even know that ABV was hidden well, let me tell you, by the end of the bottle, the King was feeling really..happy!!!

I usually love DIPA’s (give me some Starr Hill Double Platinum please…now) but this one, not so much.  That damn weird herby nose didn’t sit well with me.  The taste was OK, nothing to write home about.  Ahhh…let the Jesters drink this…

Rating: C

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Beer #118 – Ass Kisser Double IPA by Rahr & Sons Brewing Company

Ass Kisser Double IPA by Rahr & Sons Brewing Company

I’m sitting here with beer #118 watching A Mighty Wind.  If you have never seen it, and like Spinal Tap…it is a must see.  It cracks me up every time I see it.

Beer #118 is Ass Kisser Double IPA by Rahr & Sons Brewing Company.  Rahr & Sons hails from Fort Worth, Texas.  This is another first for me…my first beer from Texas.  It is kind of cool to have a beer from Texas since I was born in that great state in a little old town named San Antonio.  This is an American Double IPA/Imperial IPA and has an ABV of 9%.

What better glass to use for a beer from Texas than my Dallas Cowboys pint glass?  It poured a hazy dark amber with a small head.  I took a smell and was a bit confused.  On the label it says it is a Double IPA so I was expecting some heavy pine and citrus type aromas but that is not what I got.  I got a ton of sweet caramel malts and they dominated the nose.  There was a bit of citrus or pine to be honest but it was buried way down in there.  At times it reminded me of how a Barleywine smells, and you know how much I love Barleywines.  I took a generous sip and those sweet malts greeted me first and then I got a bit of  pine like hop flavors near the end of the that sip.  This truly tasted exactly like it smelled.  It finished slightly bitter.  The mouthfeel was a bit on the heavier side and sort of sticky or syrupy.  The carbonation was on the low side.  For me, drinakability was just OK.  Just like with Barleywines, the sweetness of all of those malts at times is almost too much for me to take.  Plus the alcohol makes it self known fairly quickly.

I think this beer was confused…I really didn’t get a Double IPA out of this.  That being said…it wasn’t horrible but for me it was just an average beer.

Rating: C

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Beer #90 – Hopslam by Bell’s Brewery, Inc.

Hopslam by Bell's Brewery, Inc.

Quick note, if you get the chance, check out the movie 127 Hours.  I saw it last night and thought it was fantastic.  The story is truly inspirational.

Beer #90 is Hopslam by Bell’s Brewery, Inc.   From Michigan by the way of fellow blogger Scot, http://blog.twobeerdudes.com, comes this American Double/Imperial IPA.  The ABV of this DIPA clocks in at 10%.

The color was a slightly hazy copper with a nice two finger width foamy white head.  That head left some excellent lacing in my pint glass.  The aromas I got from opening the bottle made me smile.  There was some nice grapefruit, pine, a bit of lemon, & floral aromas along with something sweet.  After reading the label, I think the sweetness comes from the honey.  The bitter hops kick in first in the taste followed by the grapefruit/lemon flavors with a nice bitter hoppy bite at the end.  There was a slightly sweet taste going on in here also.  It had a nice medium body with some nice carbonation that sort of coated the tongue.   The 10% ABV was hidden really well but it will bite you if you enjoy this too quickly.

Delicious…this was right up my alley.  DIPA FTW.  Good stuff from Bell’s…enjoy it if you can get a hold of it.

Rating: A

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Beer #89 – Serum by DuClaw Brewing Company

Serum by DuClaw Brewing Company

Beer #89 comes to me from Maryland.  Serum by DuClaw Brewing Company is an American Double/Imperial IPA.  This is one of my favorite styles of beer.  The ABV of this one is 9%.  DuClaw has a nice brewpub in Bel Air, MD with excellent food.  I had the pleasure of visiting that location a few months ago.

A reddish amber color with a small white head stared back at me from the pint glass.  There were a bunch of bubbles trying to escape only to get trapped in the head.  The nose was kind of faint but was typical for a double IPA (pine, citrus) but heavier on the caramel malty sweetness.  That malty sweetness hits you up front followed by the grapefruit/pine hop flavors and finishes slightly bitter with a bit of booze.  The bitterness that lingered on in the aftertaste is quite pleasant, at least for me.  This smooth brew was slightly heavy bordering on syrupy and not overly carbonated.  A very nice beer to drink but the 9% ABV started to make itself known towards the end of the bomber.

I had this on tap when I visited DuClaw and it is pretty much how I remembered it.  I enjoyed this and would get this again preferably with DuClaws fried green tomatoes and buffalo chicken tenders, the hotter the better.

Rating: B+

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Beer #74 – Pliny The Elder by Russian River Brewing Company

Pliny The Elder by Russian River Brewing Company

Hype.  There are lots of things that get so much hype that they rarely live up to it.  The 2010 Dallas Cowboys for instance, plenty of hype, much more disappointment.  This evenings beer is one of the most hyped up beers I have ever heard of.  Most rate this either the greatest DIPA of all time or damn close to it.  Will it live up to that hype?  Lets pop that cap and find out.

Beer #74 is Pliny The Elder by Russian River Brewing Company.  Pliny, brewed in California, is an American Double IPA or an Imperial IPA.  With an ABV of 8% and an IBU rating of 100, this should prove to be a hop heads dream.  Of note here, Pliny The Elder was a naval and army commander in the early Roman Empire along with an author, naturalist, and philosopher.  Gaius Plinius Secundus, Pliny The Elders proper name, lived from 25 AD to 79 AD.

The Elder poured a lovely orange honey color with a very nice fluffy white head enhanced by the tulip glass.  There was some very nice lacing going on for the entire serving size of 16.9 oz.  The nose was very fragrant, notes of pine and  sweet grapefruit dominate the aroma along with some very nice floral aromas.  It tasted exactly how I thought it would  judging from what I smelled in the nose.  The grapefruit was up front in the taste followed by that hoppy bitterness that I absolutely love.  That bitterness had a lingering effect long after the sip was swallowed.  The Elder had a nice medium body that was surprisingly smooth for a beer with an IBU of 100.  I could drink this all night long but with the 8% ABV it is much better to take it slower.  To me, slow is the way to enjoy this.  Many enjoyable things are best experienced at a slower pace.

My wife summed this up perfectly…delicious!  Pliny The Elder, for me at least, met all of my expectations and surpassed them.  Without a doubt it is in my top 5 of beers I have ever had.  If you get the chance, do yourself a favor and pick this up.  I don’t think you will regret it.

Rating: A+

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Beer #53 – Stone Ruination IPA by Stone Brewing Company

Stone Ruination IPA by Stone Brewing Company

Beer #53 is Stone Ruination IPA by Stone Brewing Company.  This American Double IPA or Imperial IPA has a very high IBU rating, 100+.  That equates to a very bitter drink.  The ABV comes in at 7.7%.  You just have to love that gargoyle on the label and make sure you read the back of the bottle as Stone does a great job describing their beers.

A beautiful clear golden amber with a big fluffy head sat in my Duvel tulip glass.  I make no bones about it, I love the smell of this beer.  The pine scent in this was huge.  Team that with some really nice citrus notes and you have, in my opinion, a hopheads delight.  I even got some floral aromas mixed in there.  This is a great smelling beer.  Taste is exactly what you would expect from the nose.  So many good flavors here, bready malts, pine, grapefruit, lemon & citrus all with that great hoppy bitterness.  Great mouthfeel, lots of carbonation in a medium bodied drink that is surprisingly smooth.  Very drinkable for me, but that will vary depending on how hoppy and bitter you prefer your beer.  One thing I have found out with this drink is that it goes great with spicy Thai food.  I always bring a bomber of this when we hit our favorite Thai restaurant, Four Seasons in Piscataway, NJ (http://www.pad-thai.com/).  If you ever find yourself in Piscataway, NJ…give it a try.  You will not be sorry.  Just be careful, medium spiciness there is quite hot.  Good stuff…now I’m getting hungry!

I love this beer, it is easily my favorite from Stone.  Non-hopheads need not apply though due to the bitter hoppy goodness found in this beer.

Rating: A+

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Beer #48 – 16th Anniversary Wood Aged Double IPA by Great Divide Brewing Company

16th Anniversary Wood Aged Double IPA by Great Divide Brewing Company

Another NFL weekend with a full slate of games on Saturday and Sunday means the TV will be pegged on CBS and FOX.  That also means some beer drinking will happen during the viewing of those games along with some junk food eating…yum!

Beer #48 is 16th Anniversary Wood Aged Double IPA by Great Divide Brewing Company.  This brew is an American Double IPA or an Imperial IPA.  The ABV on this beer is 10% which means, to me at least, a sipping beer.  I’m looking forward to this being the hophead I am.

It poured a beautiful clear amber with a very big head that quickly dissipated.  There was some excellent lacing that remained throughout the whole pint.  Grapefruit and pine make up the majority of the nose but much milder than I was expecting for a Double IPA.  There was also a bit of a bready malty aroma hanging around.  Up front in the taste was that familiar citrus grapefruit hop flavor and it finished with a smoky smoothness.  I would assume that is from the oak this was aged with.  This was super smooth with a medium body.  There was none of that really hoppy bite I was expecting from a Double IPA, which I really love.  The alcohol was hidden really well, coupled with the smoothness, made this quite an easy drinker.

A very nice beer indeed, though I’m not sure I would consider this a Double IPA.  Although saying that, I wouldn’t pass this up if I was offered it again.  It just wasn’t as hoppy as I like.  I wonder if the oak aging had anything to do with that?

Rating: B

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