Nøgne-Ø Doppel IPA

Nøgne-Ø Doppel IPA is a collaborative effort from Nøgne-Ø and Toshi Ishii of Japan's YoHo brewery. Ishii trained for three years at Stone and returned to Japan to brew west coast style ales there. 

Nøgne-Ø Doppel IPA uses five varieties of hops, has 100 IBUs and an 8% a.b.v. It is bottle conditioned and dry hopped with two types of hops. The beers body is light and fluffy without the hefty mouthfeel that might be expected from a double IPA. The aroma smells of spices and dough. The flavor has elements of caramel and lemon. The dry, acidic finish has plenty of pine and occasional hints of dark chocolate.

A word of warning about Nøgne-Ø beers: The bottle conditioning is a problem. There's a ton of yeast in their bottles and you ending losing the bottom fifth of each bottle to the cloudy chunks. I find that flavors come through clearer when the bottle conditioning yeast is not in the tasting glass. 

Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA

I've drank this beer on many occasions and was never very enamored with it. 90 Minute is a 9% Imperial IPA with a flavor driven by malt. It's a big beer dripping with malt complexity. It's continuously hopped for 90 minutes while it's brewed, but it doesn't come off insanely hoppy in actuality. The hops are masked by a "ridiculous amount" of English Two Row barley. As a result, 90 Minute's flavor gravitates toward an English IPA with a jacked up abv. The nose smelled of spiced bread that reminded me of Christmas. The body has a thick, chewy texture. There is a sweetish, Toffee character in the flavor and the finish has a deep bitter quality that is coffee like. 

Like I said earlier, I was never big on this beer, but that was before I tried it with food. I drank one with steak and now I see what all the hype is about. It's amazing with steak, which complimented and rounded the deep malt complexity. 

Pizza Port Brewing Company

I snagged a couple of Pizza Port Brews this weekend and blew my palate out on one of them. Hop-15 was the one that didn't kill my taste buds. It's a double IPA with apricot coloring and an inviting, well balanced aroma. The aroma is bright, and consists of baked dough and grapefruit. No single aspect of this ale is overwhelming or unbalanced, it is liquid luxury. The flavor is dominated by a grapefruit character with the sweet yet bitter contrast that comes from fresh squeezed grapefruit juice.

Yesterday, I found a Pizza Port Second Anniversary Ale in Boston. I ventured to Boston with the hope of meeting my first legally married lesbian couple. While I was there, I grabbed some beers.  The Second Anniversary Ale is close to Hop-15 in aroma and grapefruit character with one large difference: after each sip, the muscles in the back of my jaw seized up from the insane bitterness. My reaction was borderline painful, and the dose of hops completely ruined my palate over the last 24 hours. At this point, an IPA might as well be a glass of sparkling water as far as I'm concerned. The Pizza Port beers I tried were Amazing. They were mad hoppy and will definitely sate a hop fix.

Twin Sisters Double IPA

I learned some sign language working in a beer store. There was a new girl hired who was hot but hard to communicate with. She had a massive hearing aide that didn't do much good, so she could only understand me if she was looking at my lips. I was always shouting at her to no effect and constantly surprising her because she couldn't hear me coming up behind her. One day we were looking at the Left Hand beers and she got excited. She started flashing her hands around. She explained she was signing "left." Left Hand's Sawtooth Ale has sign language on the label. She taught me more sign language after that. Hello, good night, that sort of thing. She didn't stick around for too long and my sign language got rusty. The last time I used sign language, I inadvertently asked a woman if she wanted to make out all night. The gaff ended my dabbles in sign language.

The Twin Sisters are identical mountains on Colorado's Front Range and the namesake of Left Hand's Double IPA. I'm not much for the Rocky Mountain tributes unless it's concerning Jackson Ho. I'm more interested in finding the other three sisters from the Left Hand logo. The twins are big gals and weight in at 9.8% abv according to the bottle.

This is the second time I've sipped the Twin Sisters. The one I'm drinking now was brewed two years ago. Since then, it's sat in my "beer cellar" (AKA the cardboard box of beer in my closet) for two years. My first glass of the aged Twins was lovely. There were strong hints of creamy oak followed by dark chocolate flavors reminiscent of a barely wine. There was little hop aroma and flavor in the aged version, The hop bitterness remained in the finish but with more harmony than a younger ale. It was crazy hopped in flavor and aroma the first time around. My old notes indicate a piney hop aroma similar to the Maharaja coupled with a soft body like the Houblon Chouffe. The aged version is still light of body for such a big beer but it tastes more like a barely wine than double IPA.

Good Beer in a Can - Oskar Blues Gordon

Proof that good beer can come in a can is provided by Oskar Blues Brewery in Lyon, Colorado. They make three beers and all of them come in a can. Gordon is their most extreme beer. It's 8.7% abv and hopped to the gills. The strange thing about this beer is that it has such a big flavor but it's body doesn't pack a heavy punch the way the Maharaja does. The body is smooth as Barry White wearing a velvet shirt. The aroma is piney with notes of carmel and is aptly described as 'sticky' on the can. Gordon has an amber coloration and its flavor is quite structured. It tastes like there is something green in the beer, it's as if you are drinking a vegetable. There are occasional hints of chocolate and a general nutty flavor from the malts. And then there's the long, drawn out fresh hop flavor intermingling with the malt throughout the entire sip.

At between $3 and $4 per can Gordon is pricey, but I like to drink beer and throw money away so I figured why not kill two birds with one stone. Despite the price, this beer is well worth it. If you like big, bold, hoppy beers then trying Gordon's IPA is a must because the aren't any beers like this out there.

This Beer Will Slay You

The Avery Brewing Company brews a wide range of excellent beers. I have tried most of their offerings and only disliked one of them (The White Racal). All the others were excellent and the Avery Maharaja might be one of their best. It is one largest IPAs out there and comes in around 9.6% alcohol by volume with over 100 IBUs (International Bitterness Units). Basically, it has a lot of hops and tons of malt that marry perfectly in your mouth. It has a grapefruity nose and a piney flavor. It is the definition of a resiny beer and tastes like Montana would if you could put it in a bottle. What makes this beer unique is it's thick malt character that can be described as chewy. Due to the malt, it comes equipped with a firm, thick body and full mouth feel.

Judging by the sword and the crazy look in his eye, this man will slay you for making fun of his hat.