“This beer is twister proof”…at least that’s what Boulevard says.  Suddenly, it’s clear to what the Double Wide refers.  So, if you are drinking this beer in your trailer, then rest assured that if your home is sucked up and obliterated by a tornado, ostensibly, your beer will remain intact.  That’s reassuring.

Many of you know my feelings on IPA, especially Double IPAs.  I’m not a huge fan of them unless they are balanced in the malt profile.  I like a bit of sweetness and fullness in the body to keep the hops in check.  I prefer that they work together in their extremes to achieve what I call “extreme balance.”  How did this beer stack up?

The Pour: Double Wide had an orange brown body and was fairly opaque.  The body was active and retained the head of the beer nicely.  So far so good, it looked very nice.

The Nose: The best thing about this brew was that I didn’t have to smell any grapefruit or pines tones.  To me, that meant no Cascade hops…a plus in my book (although I don’t mind them sometimes).  What I did smell of the hops was certainly more lemony than it was other citrus fruits.  It was lemon zesty with some grapish wine qualities.  Caramel and nuts also made their way into the aroma as did some sweetness.  The yeast breadiness and honey rounded out the already full aroma.

The Taste: The hop citrus and honey tones were at the front and worked wonderfully well together.  A nice amount of sweetness certainly filled out the body of the beer.  The mouth-feel itself was very nice; the higher carbonation and sweetness made certain of that.  The hops present was a perfect balancing act between spice, citrus, and a beautifully insistent bitterness, which lasted for the whole beer.  Those higher alcohol wine tones made themselves felt but not too much so as to take over the beer.  The caramel and nuts were present but perhaps fairly restrained.

Overall, I love this IPA.  I think it’s something I would always drink over Pliny or some of the other more popular double IPAs.  To me, it’s almost flawless and the people of Boulevard should pat themselves on the back for this achievement.  I would gladly pay $8 or 9 any time for this beer.  I figure that 8.5% for a 750 ml bottle of great beer is not much at all.

Mike’s Rating:

Overall Satisfaction: ★★★★¾ 

Among other Double IPAs: ★★★★★