Mikkeller
brewed at De Proef Brouwerij
Municipality of Lochristi
Province of East Flanders
Region of Flemish, Belgium
Centennial Single Hop India Pale Ale
Style: American India Pale Ale
Availability: ?
Format: 330ml
ABV: 6.9%
Bottle text & Info:
n/a. the latest in the single hop line.
Tasting Notes:
Pours a burnt orange with an inch and a half off white head that show tremendous retention. Rocky, craggy foam on top with massive amounts of clinging. Smells expressly of grapefruit. In no way as sweet as Founder's Centennial, this one is straight up grapefruit on medium body. Some touches of orange citrus here and there but pretty much puckering grapefruit powering through. A bit one dimensional, but excusable being a single hop. Pretty refreshing and a great look at the powerful hop strain deriving from the Cascade hop.
Showing posts with label India Pale Ale. Show all posts
Showing posts with label India Pale Ale. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Day 81: 03.22.10 Mikkeller Cascade Single Hop IPA
Mikkeller
brewed at De Proef Brouwerij
Municipality of Lochristi
Province of East Flanders
Region of Flemish, Belgium
Cascade Single Hop India Pale Ale
Style: American India Pale Ale
Availability: ?
Format: 330ml
ABV: 6.9%
Bottle text & Info:
"The third in the series of single hop IPA's from Mikkeller. Brewed with Cascade, a true american classic hop type. This hop is less powerfull than the ones used in the previous two single hop IPA's - creating a great balance with the beers other aspects."
Tasting Notes:
Pours burnt orange with a half inch head that rapidly recedes. Smells of sweet malts and subtle wildflowers, slight pine in the end. Medium bodied creamy mouthfeel that boast slight toffee finishing with some restrained pine and grapefruit. Some interesting wood and vanilla notes here in the mix although this has never touched a barrel/cask. A pretty good amount of depth here although this is much more restrained then any of the other single hop offerings from Mikkeller. A fitting tribute and nice look at the hop that is so closely linked the monster that is Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
brewed at De Proef Brouwerij
Municipality of Lochristi
Province of East Flanders
Region of Flemish, Belgium
Cascade Single Hop India Pale Ale
Style: American India Pale Ale
Availability: ?
Format: 330ml
ABV: 6.9%
Bottle text & Info:
"The third in the series of single hop IPA's from Mikkeller. Brewed with Cascade, a true american classic hop type. This hop is less powerfull than the ones used in the previous two single hop IPA's - creating a great balance with the beers other aspects."
Tasting Notes:
Pours burnt orange with a half inch head that rapidly recedes. Smells of sweet malts and subtle wildflowers, slight pine in the end. Medium bodied creamy mouthfeel that boast slight toffee finishing with some restrained pine and grapefruit. Some interesting wood and vanilla notes here in the mix although this has never touched a barrel/cask. A pretty good amount of depth here although this is much more restrained then any of the other single hop offerings from Mikkeller. A fitting tribute and nice look at the hop that is so closely linked the monster that is Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Day 65: 03.06.10 BrewDog Storm IPA
BrewDog Ltd.
Fraserburgh, Scotland
Storm (Islay Whiskey Cask Aged) IPA
Style: Double/Imperial India Pale Ale
Availablity: Year Round
Format: 330ml
ABV: 8.0%
Bottle text & Info:
"At BrewDog we are selfish; we only make beers that we want to drink. This is not an unerring, despondent half hearted compromise. This bottle contains are IPA which has been aged in Scottish Islay whiskey casks. The combination of Islay whisky casks and New Zealand hops is one of polar opposites on many levels. Drinking this beer is like being caught in the eye of a force 12 North Atlantic storm. Heavily peated demonic smoked Islay whiskey and the fruity hop flavors of our IPA should not go well together. Nor should mild pretentiousness and exponential cool. However at BrewDog we are pretty sure we can rock it out and make both admirable combinations work reasonably well. Zeitgeist in a bottle."
Tasting Notes:
Pours a dirty golden orange with little to no head, that immediately creates a white ring around the glass. Whoas. Smells overwhelmingly of smokey peat ridden scotch. This will make your eyes water. I'm a little frightened. Can i get this on the rocks? Here goes. Yeah, ok. No. Watery mouthfeel with slight, slight hints of Kent Goldings that is immediately overwhelmed by smoke and peat. This has all the peat notes- band-aid/plastic weird smoke flavors that I love in the whiskeys from the west of Scotland. This just isn't what I want in an IPA. This might work if they ratcheted up the hops so it wasn't just dominated by the whiskey, or perhaps they should just stick to only whiskey cask aging their stouts. There's a fine line between confidence and arrogance and this beer errs on the side of the later. The boys at BrewDog had it right when they said "heavily peated demonic smoked Islay whiskey and the fruity hop flavors of our IPA should not go well together." They don't. I get that BrewDog essentially sees themselves as the Dogfish Brewing of Europe. You push the envelope, you do extreme beers. We get it. Sometimes when you try/experiment with brewing things don't go well. When they don't - when the beer fails to come together. You scrap it and go back to the drawing board. This offering from BrewDog seems forced, sort of like they don't even believe in it. Like they brewed it just because they could. And this is proof that just because something can technically be done, doesn't mean it should. Occasionally, BrewDog will hit a home run, then sometimes they whiff. If you pay attention, you can feel the breeze from this miss.
Fraserburgh, Scotland
Storm (Islay Whiskey Cask Aged) IPA
Style: Double/Imperial India Pale Ale
Availablity: Year Round
Format: 330ml
ABV: 8.0%
Bottle text & Info:
"At BrewDog we are selfish; we only make beers that we want to drink. This is not an unerring, despondent half hearted compromise. This bottle contains are IPA which has been aged in Scottish Islay whiskey casks. The combination of Islay whisky casks and New Zealand hops is one of polar opposites on many levels. Drinking this beer is like being caught in the eye of a force 12 North Atlantic storm. Heavily peated demonic smoked Islay whiskey and the fruity hop flavors of our IPA should not go well together. Nor should mild pretentiousness and exponential cool. However at BrewDog we are pretty sure we can rock it out and make both admirable combinations work reasonably well. Zeitgeist in a bottle."
Tasting Notes:
Pours a dirty golden orange with little to no head, that immediately creates a white ring around the glass. Whoas. Smells overwhelmingly of smokey peat ridden scotch. This will make your eyes water. I'm a little frightened. Can i get this on the rocks? Here goes. Yeah, ok. No. Watery mouthfeel with slight, slight hints of Kent Goldings that is immediately overwhelmed by smoke and peat. This has all the peat notes- band-aid/plastic weird smoke flavors that I love in the whiskeys from the west of Scotland. This just isn't what I want in an IPA. This might work if they ratcheted up the hops so it wasn't just dominated by the whiskey, or perhaps they should just stick to only whiskey cask aging their stouts. There's a fine line between confidence and arrogance and this beer errs on the side of the later. The boys at BrewDog had it right when they said "heavily peated demonic smoked Islay whiskey and the fruity hop flavors of our IPA should not go well together." They don't. I get that BrewDog essentially sees themselves as the Dogfish Brewing of Europe. You push the envelope, you do extreme beers. We get it. Sometimes when you try/experiment with brewing things don't go well. When they don't - when the beer fails to come together. You scrap it and go back to the drawing board. This offering from BrewDog seems forced, sort of like they don't even believe in it. Like they brewed it just because they could. And this is proof that just because something can technically be done, doesn't mean it should. Occasionally, BrewDog will hit a home run, then sometimes they whiff. If you pay attention, you can feel the breeze from this miss.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Day 54: 02.23.10 Bear Republic Racer 5
Bear Republic Brewing Co.
Healdsburg, California
Racer 5 IPA
Style: American India Pale Ale
Availability: Year Round
Format: 22oz, 12oz -6pk
ABV: 7.0%
IBU's: 75+
Bottle text & Info:
This hoppy American IPA is a full bodied beer brewed American pale and crystalmalts, and heavily hopped with Chinook, Cascade, Columbus and Centennial.
There's a trophy in every glass.
Tasting Notes:
Pours a bright clear golden with minimal head and "racing" (get it...) ribbons of carbonation. Not an overwhelming nose, sort of a predictably hop driven citrus nose. Body is slippery and light continued by a continual bombing of hops. Some pine but mostly Chinook-like grapefruit, melon and lemon followed by honeydew and some whole comb honey-like sweetness. Thanks to a light body and ample carbonation this is a killer, sessionable IPA at a ridiculously reasonable price ($4.50 a bomber).
Healdsburg, California
Racer 5 IPA
Style: American India Pale Ale
Availability: Year Round
Format: 22oz, 12oz -6pk
ABV: 7.0%
IBU's: 75+
Bottle text & Info:
This hoppy American IPA is a full bodied beer brewed American pale and crystalmalts, and heavily hopped with Chinook, Cascade, Columbus and Centennial.
There's a trophy in every glass.
Tasting Notes:
Pours a bright clear golden with minimal head and "racing" (get it...) ribbons of carbonation. Not an overwhelming nose, sort of a predictably hop driven citrus nose. Body is slippery and light continued by a continual bombing of hops. Some pine but mostly Chinook-like grapefruit, melon and lemon followed by honeydew and some whole comb honey-like sweetness. Thanks to a light body and ample carbonation this is a killer, sessionable IPA at a ridiculously reasonable price ($4.50 a bomber).
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