Don’t let them tell you that Pliny the Younger can’t be found in the bottle.  Well, that’s where the story really starts.  I knew that Russian River was tapping Pliny the Younger at Lucky Baldwin’s (Pasadena) down the street.  I had one problem…I had to work.  So, despite the anticipation, I was stuck not being able to taste it.

Having come to terms with it, I called up  friend who I knew wanted to give it a whirl.  She told me that she and some friends were planning to go around 8 p.m., and I immediately advised against it, telling her that it would be gone.  They changed their plans and headed to the pub to get in on the action.  Incidentally, the beer sold out in twenty minutes.

It was nice that they were able to try it, so I was happy for them… then the text came: “We got one extra, when’s your lunch break?”  I knew that lunch wouldn’t be coming until 6, so I couldn’t go get the beer.  If I had anticipated it, I would have made it a point to send them with a beer bottle, my capper, and a bottle cap.  I gave them thanks and told them not to go to any extra-ordinary effort in regards to the beer, mentioning that that it was a thoughtful and generous gesture.  After a few texts and a brief conversation, Anya and Michael were determined to figure something out (thanks, guys!).

Well, here I sat with this plastic water bottle of Pliny the Younger.  I kept it cold and prayed there would be a bit of carbonation left in it, a risky proposition indeed.  I’m happy to say that I got the beer home, opened it (it was in pretty good shape, all things considered), and drank it.  That’s how I got a hold of this hard to find beer.  Was the serving situation ideal?  No, but what is?  Here is what I think about the brew itself.

The Pour: The carbonation level was less than ideal, that much I can say definitively.  You simply can’t ask The Younger to make such a perilous journey and be fully carbonated.  You simply can’t have it all.  Other than the carbonation, the pour was lovely.  A clean golden orange body was sitting beautifully still in the glass.

The Nose: Must I really say what the nose of a beer which is dry hopped 4 times smells like?  Well, it was on the hoppy side.  It was piney, perfumey, and resinous.  I noticed a bit of the 11% ABV on the nose, which I’m sure helped to emphasize the hops.  A bit of tropical fruity hop aromas came through as well.  Maybe just a tiny touch of caramel, but who can say for sure?

The Taste: Must I really say what the taste of a beer which is dry hopped 4 times tastes like?  Well, it was on the hoppy side.  Actually, it was pretty drinkable, and I’ll say from the outset that I like it more than Pliny the Elder.  A decent mouth-feel, despite the lack of CO2, helped prop the brew up.  After all I’ve heard about the beer, I was surprised at the degree of balance it had in its extremes.  The hops certainly had aspects of pine, citrus, and tropical fruit tones.  There is little more to say about the beer than talking about the hops, but it did have a touch of residual sweetness and a small, grainy, caramel pop.  Don’t make any mistake, this beer is all about the über (American) IPA style, so expect a ton of hops.  However, the beer was surprisingly fresh and refreshing.

The last aspect that I want to mention is how truly sharp and relentlessly tongue buckling the bitterness it.  It’s massive.  From the middle of a sip forward, it’s simply huge on bitterness.  I think Dave from The Drunken Polack maybe said something about how it took the enamel off his teeth.  If he didn’t say it, credit that to me.  It’s a razor.

Overall: Normally, I make a criticism about big IPAs not having enough body.  I might have in this case, but it would detract from the freshness of the brew.  Often I dislike things that are too extreme (especially IPAs).  However, I have to say that I think this beer is pretty good.  The more I think about it the more I think about how hard it is to balance a beer like this.  Perhaps the tiniest bit more malt backing would be okay…but not too much.  Let’s keep it fresh.  If you get a chance to try this beer, even from a water bottle, give it a sip.

Mike’s Rating:

Overall Satisfaction: ★★★★¼ 

Among other IPAs: ★★★★½ 

Among other Double/Triple IPAs: ★★★★½ 

Which brings me to beer ratings…

I’ve discussed in the past how at times, certain beers achieve cult status, simply because in a viral sort of way, the herd deems one beer “the best,” and the intrepid reviewer would hate to disseminate a contrary opinion.  Now, some beers are the best, because they simply are, “the best.”  I have had plenty of top rated beers achieved beer God status on their own merit.  From time to time, however, I stumble across a beer that makes me wonder why it is so coveted by the craft community.

Yes I have a beer in mind.  It is Hopslam.

Before I go further, let me silence the haters.  I LOVE Hopslam.  I think it is delicious.  I buy a bottle or two every year at it’s release.  I love Bell’s Brewery.  They produce quality, delicious beers.  Hopslam included.

Why the disclaimer?  Not to long ago someone on Twitter asked, “What beers do you think are overrated?” I responded, “Hopslam;” to which the inquisitor replied, “even this year’s? i think it’s pretty tasty.“ Tasty, yes…overrated…yes.

I drank three Hopslams this season, one a week three weeks in a row, trying to see if I could taste the pixy dust in this brew that inspires someone to pack the trunk of their car (saw a picture of that scenario) with the stuff.  Each sip was good…very good, but each sip wasn’t a euphoric experience as described by countless twitter updates the past month or so.  The beer is very well balanced, has a nice sweet and fruity malt with a caramel aftertaste, and a tasty hop profile (I picked up on Centennial).  It finishes smooth.  No complaints.  I’d rate it 4.25 out of 5 subjective but not arbitrary stars.  That’s a great rating.   But it’s not the 6 out of 5 (yes I saw that on twitter) that the community attributes it.

I’m not alone in this.  Billy Broas quickly agreed and said that in his opinion, were Dogfish Head’s 90 minute a special seasonal release it would be considered as sacred as Hopslam.   He’s on to something.  The fact that 1) Hopslam is a limited seasonal release, 2) it comes in an expensive $17.99+  six pack (actually this is a great deal compared to other Double IPAs that are served up in bomber sizes) and 3) it’s called Hopslam, contributes to its respectable yet overinflated (in my opinion) eminence.

I know in your head you are asking me, “Nate, so what IS better than Hopslam?”

Plenty, I’m sure but here’s one: Southern Tier’s Oak Aged Unearthly
Imperial India Pale Ale.  After reading about the non-oaked version over at Beer and Whiskey Bros, I had to try it, and boy an I glad I did.  This beer is packed full of complexity, even moreso than Hopslam.  The flavors are so familiar but so unique and avant garde at the same time.  Hops and fruity malts give way to serious whiskey flavors and lush earthy oakiness, peppered with occasional sour bites.  Like Pavlov’s dog, I’m drooling on my keyboard (Pavlov’s dog was a renowned blogger, you know).

Feel free to disagree with me.  It’s beer after all, and beer is open to a wide (but not total) degree of subjectivity.  Before you go and answer one or both of these questions:

1) What beers do YOU feel are overrated in the craft community?

2) What makes Hopslam so highly rated?

And remember, this post is not a diatribe against one of my favorite brewery’s beer.  I love the Hopslam, I’m just not prepared to marry it.

PHOTO CREDIT

The Pour: A maple, copper body placed this firmly within the acceptable colors of what an IPA should look like.  A nice, off-white, slightly yellow-tinted, finely carbonated head sat firmly atop the active body.  What a lovely sight, especially when the wonderful lacing of the head became visible after some sips.

The Nose: Atypical of many Northwest brews, the nose was not chalked full of extremely citrusy hops.  They were floral; there’s no mistaking that aspect of the brew.  However, they were much more tropical fruit and melon in aroma than pine sappy or grapefruity characteristic of many IPAs out there.  It was a very refreshing aroma, indeed (and in more ways than one).  I did catch a slight off aroma which was almost acidic and slightly putrid.  That sounds horrible, but it wasn’t an overt flaw.  Hints of sweet malts, plenty of fruitiness, and hop restraint made for a very pleasant set of aromas.

The Taste: The hop restraint was evident upon the first sip.  Still, it was firmly an IPA, albeit more balanced in the hop content.  A wonderful level of residual, sweet, caramel malt led to a nice mouth-feel and cut the taste and perceived bitterness of the hops.  However, the beer was still sharply bitter and a touch metallic (iron-like) in quality.  Between the tropical/melon hops and ale yeast, the beer had a very nice fruity tone.  It rode out the whole beer and ended with a semi-dry bitterness.

Overall, other than a touch of off aroma on the nose, the beer was really nice.  I tend to get a little more enthusiastic because it stands out a bit from the crowd.

Mike’s Rating:

Overall Satisfaction: ★★★★☆ 

Among Other American IPAs: ★★★★¼ 

Among Other IPAs: ★★★¾☆ 

While I realize that Maharaja is seasonal release and DuganA is a limited release, brewed at the whimsy of its creator, I thought it a bit odd to see these two side by side.  It’s natural to compare different takes of one style, and Avery seemed to set themselves up for reviews such as this.  In fact, as I sat looking at those two bottles I chuckled as the words of Christ came to mind, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” Hmmm…I wonder how Christ would rate these beers?  I digress…

If you recall, I wanted to taste these beers side by side to determine which I preferred.  Since these brews come loaded with alcohol and only come in 750 ml bottles, my wife and one of my buddies offered to lend their palates.  I did not tell them which order they drank the two big IPAs until they had rendered a verdict.  Here are my condensed notes.

DuganA

DuganA pours a clear amber/orange color.  Where my glass was narrower, the liquid presented more golden colors.  A very decent white one inch head with nice retention eventually dissipates leaving spidery lacing.  The aroma boasts citrusy hops.  Grapefruit, orange, pine, and pineapple dominate the nose.  There are also noticeable cotton candy aromas.  For the most part, intricate malt aromas are lost to the hop vapor cloud.

This beer is a hop bomb.  Despite the higher ABV (8.5%) the caramel malty backing I enjoy in an IPA is masked considerably by the grapefruit explosion in my mouth.  The body is much thinner than expected and there is an equally surprising amount of carbonation,  leading to somewhat of a dry drinking experience, which actually makes DuganA somewhat interesting.  The finish of the beer is reminiscent of sesame crackers.  Very interesting.

The thin body and bubbly nature of this brew lends a session able quality (though it’s not a session beer!) however I felt it to be just a tad boring.

Nate’s Review:

Overall Satisfaction: ★★★¼☆ 

Among other Imperial IPAs: ★★★☆☆ 

Maharaja

Maharaja looks quite a bit like DuganA, and it should…the grain bill is pretty similar.  There seemed to be a bit of a haze that wasn’t perceptible in the DuganA, and there were deeper shades of red.  The head was less glorious than its little sister:  A nice pour only yielded about a half and inch of head the dissappeared quicker but left behind similar sticky lacing.

At first whiff there is a noticeable difference.  The hop aroma is more multi-dimensional than the DuganA in my opinion.  While I would say it is more abrasive, it allows more malt aromas to penetrate the nostrils.  I would say there is more balance between pine and grapefruit aromas, but there is also a bit of funk that reminded me a bit of the smell of butane.  While it is heavier in IBUs (102), the higher ABV (10.24%) and thus maltier body allows sweet caramel, sugar, toffee, cappuccino, and grainy malt characteristics to reach the nose.

The flavor packs a punch.  In my opinion, I found Maharajah to be more balanced, and this is strictly personal.  While I love hops, my tastes requires a bold malt backing to balance out the biting quality of the hops, and Maharajah really packs a bite in its hop profile.  There is a peppery bite woven in the citrus quality that I attribute to the use of Simcoe hops.  At times, it was almost minty.  At the same time, that sweet molasses/caramel body lent itself to careful dance of flavors in my mouth, alternating between sweet and bitter depending on where I swished the brew in my mouth.

Maharaja is thicker, stickier, and much, much more of a sipping beer.  I can see why many may prefer the DuganA.  As for me, while I am growing a bit weary of all these imperial brews confiscating shelf space, when it comes to IPAs, I prefer either a classic more sessionable beer (i.e. Boulevard’s single wide or even a classic British IPA) or a bombastic, in your face, highly complex sipping IPA.

Nate’s Review:

Overall Satisfaction: ★★★¾☆ 

Among other Imperial IPAs: ★★★★☆ 

For the record:

My wife preferred DuganA while my buddy, Aaron, leaned towards Maharaja

WHAT DO YOU THINK???

What do you prefer???  There is no right or wrong answer.  Different strokes for different folks, right?

***note*** I will update this post with pics I took of our tasting as soon as they are emailed to me.  My digital camera was destroyed at the hands of my three year old.

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: ★★★★★ 

So this week, you can choose to drink either the Maharaja or the DuganA, but I would suggest you try both.  I would love to post a guest review, so if any of our readers feel so inclined, let me know an I’ll post your review of one of these beers.

These are both Imperial India Pale Ales.  Anyone familiar with Thank Heaven for Beer knows that we don’t often post IPA’s as the Sip With Us Saturday beer, so this week is for all the hopheads out there.

DuganA
Original Gravity: 1.076
ABV: 8.5%
IBUs: 93
A big beer with a big hop profile

Maharaja
Original Gravity: 1.090
ABV: 10.24%
IBUs: 102
A bigger beer with a bigger hop profile (in numbers, that is)

Let us know ho wins the battle of the beers.  Cheers!

Hop Rocket: Hop Rocket is Arcadia’s 11th Anniversary Ale (An Imperial IPA) that weighs in at 9% ABV and 111 IBUs of hops.  That is a ton of IBUs (International Bittering Units).  I purchased this beer in Springfield, MO at the Brown Derby International store on my way out to California…I’ve waited a while to drink it. Here’s the skinny on this one.

The Pour:  Gold, gold, gold.  Hop Rocket had a very nice golden body and a small amount of head retention due to its slowly active body.

The Nose: The hops on this seemed more like tropical fruit than some others that I’ve had.  Don’t get me wrong, there was still some piney, grapefruity, and lemon citrus from the hops.  But this had a nice tropical tone.  I noted a touch of the grains on this beer but the 111 IPAs were plenty to cover almost anything on the nose.

The Taste: Did the hops come through?  Yes, they did.  Like I said, the tropical tones seemed to be big to me so that came through on the taste.  The piney hops resins still touched my palate.  The lemon citrus was also up front.  I found the beer to be particularly bitter and dry.  To much, if you ask me.  Hints of toffee and a touch of burnt smokiness were also present on the finish.

Overall, I think a better Anniversary gift could have been offered.  I found the beer a little thinner and less malty than I think is appropriate for the amount of hops on this one.  The alcohol was also noticeable.

Mike’s Rating:

Overall Satisfaction: ★★★¾☆ 

Among other Imperial IPAs: ★★★½☆ 

Hop Mouth: Hopmouth is a Double IPA that is 8.1% ABV and 79 IBUs, which is in the normal American IPA range.  I also purchased this in the Brown Derby International store.  It was far better, in my opinion, than was Hop Rocket.  This offering more balanced and less attenuated (thinned).

The Pour: A maple body sat staring me in the face, even though it had no head.  It’s lightly hazed body created a sense of mystery.  I thought that I ought to look at it a little more.

The Nose: What a relief.  The hops did punch me in the face this time.  In fact, I was like, “This is a DIPA”? Double IPAs are suppose to cause massive seizures and this one didn’t.  Good!  The great thing about not having six billion IBUs of hops was the fact that I could note the caramel tones mixed with sweetness.  Of course, I did note those Cascade hops on the nose.  Plenty of grapefruit.  I wish to say that the vinous (wine-like) tones made it seem more grapy and less grapefruity.

The Taste: The grape tones that I mentioned came through here although the grapefruit and bitterness reminded me that there were acids from the hops.  A very pleasant balance of thick malts stood behind the hoppy and bitter qualities.  Hopmouth faded into a pleasant caramel and grain finish.  The Maris Otter grain that the got from the U.K were really a wonderful choice.  I don’t know if they are responsible but there was a pepper tone to this beer as well.

Overall, I found this to be balanced and put together like they brewers had some sense.  Nothing was absolutely extreme but it was it was unmistakably a Double IPA.

MIke’s Rating:

Overall Satisfaction: ★★★★¼ 

Among other Double IPAs: ★★★★¼ 

Pour: A golden body, which remained pretty active, sat below a white and somewhat quickly dissipating head.  There isn’t a great deal to say about the body of Pliny.

The Nose: Things began to perk up here.  As a Double IPA (and typical of American IPAs), Pliny was pretty hoppy in approach.  The piney/grapefruity tones that are typical of many Cascade hopped beers seemed to be fairly pronounced.  However, there was a lot more to the hop profile than I’ve seen described elsewhere.  Personally, I caught some tropical fruit tones to the beer (passion fruit and pineapple?).  Some residual sweetness and a touch of grains also made their way to my nostrils.

The Taste: Nate and I both have repeated on numerous occasions that we don’t mind hops so long as there is a nice malt level to back it.  Fortunately, Pliny meets my criteria for using the hops that it did.  Of course, those hops really dominated the immediate taste profile.  Pliny was touched with sweetness and a nice semi-full mouth-feel.  The sweetness increased the fruity (pineapple/passion fruit) perception, which came from the hops, on the palate.  Russian River’s offering had some fair caramel grain tones that faded into a bitter finish.  One thing that was conspicuously absent from the beer was the taste of its 8% ABV.  That was well hidden in the brew.

Overall, Pliny is a very solid and good beer.  Have I had better IPAs and Double IPAs?  Absolutely.  It’s funny, I’m not normally not a big IPA fan (anyone who has been or will be around the site much will know that). The fact that I normally don’t drink IPAs, I think, makes me more discriminating in my taste when I have one, so it’s not too often that I find an excellent one.  All that to say, I think you can do better in the world of IPAs…but this is still very well done.

Mike’s Rating:

Overall Satisfaction: ★★★¾☆ 

Among other IPAs: ★★★★¼ 

Among other Double IPAs: ★★★★☆ 

As with any culture, abundance leads to finicky habits, as is the case with the IPA.  America has become hooked on this revived style, and have flooded the shelves with many, many varieties.  As a result, I have a wider range to from which to judge superiority.  Simply put, they all be good, but they are not all the best.

While I was in KC, I really indulged in beers that are not typically available in Northwest Ohio, and really became quite fond of beers from the St. Louis based, Schlafly.  While I was looking through some randomly assorted single 12oz bottles, my eye hit upon a bottle of Export IPA, one of Schlafly’s special releases.  I picked up a bottle, expecting a typical IPA (American) flavor:  Caramel, hops, hops, hops, citrus, etc.  Boy was I wrong!

The beers pour was somewhat typical.  The ruby red liquid was a tad more brown that I was expecting, and it appeared just a bit thinner than expected, but overall, it looks like an IPA.  Carbonation is fairly active, and stickly lacing leaves neat designs on the glass’ interior.

The aroma burst with pine aromas.  I am guessing the typical Pacific Northwest hops were spared or used sparsely in this brew.  Alcohol bites are up front on the nose.  Beyond this, the aroma is slightly indescribable.  The malt aroma is not as caramel/tofee-ish as in other American brewed IPAs.

The flavor caught me WAY off guard.  In fact I had to remind myself that this was an IPA!  The flavor was crisp and light.  The hop aroma is complex, and tastes similar to how a spruce smells.  Slightly lemony, but not grapefruity at all.  There is a lime hint. The malt flavor is sweet and bready.  You can taste the farm a bit in this one.  There are extreme flowery and herbal flavors.  The malt flavors dissipated quickly after swallowing, and a characteristic flavor that was present from the beginning lingered.  I knew the flavor, I just could not pinpoint it…then it hit me..GIN!

There is the most pinpoint unique flavor of a crisp dry gin in this IPA, that makes this beer extremely enjoyable!

After drinking, I looked at ratings on BeerAdvocate just to see others’ reactions, and was shocked and dismayed to see an average rating of B+ from the BA community.  Are you kidding me?  As I read the reviews, it seemed that perhaps the consumers did not realize that this was not an “American IPA,” rather, it is and English Style IPA. The taste, is quite different from the typical IPAs (many that I do enjoy considerably, but it is more complex than just about any American IPA I have had.  I did not expect coherence to my opinion, but, given that the BeerAdvocate seems to overrate most beers, I was not expecting a B+!

Overall, this beer is a beauty.  Even if you don’t like gin, I think you will find this beer enlightening.

Nate’s Rating:

Overall Satisfaction: ★★★★☆ 

Among other IPAs: ★★★★★ 

Among MO Brews: ★★★★★ 

Note:

Here are several beer from Schlafly we’ve tried…

The Pour: I had already held the bottle up to the light and assumed it was a bit lighter than some other IPA styled beer that I’d put down my gullet.  Upon pouring the beer, my suspicion was confirmed.  However, there was still a nice orange-golden body and an off-white, stable head to boot.  If I judged based on appearances, I would be forced to reserve judgment…what’s in a color?  I would also like to note that Hop Stoopid was a pretty active beer.

The Nose: Did I catch the qualities of grapefruit that are prosaically quotidian for the style?  Yes, I did…but there was more than typical Cascade hop-type qualities.  I hereby swear and affirm that there was a strong and pleasant papaya nose to this beer.  Scoff if you must, but it’s like Prego, man!  It’s in there. The papaya gave the nose a very lovely melon quality that was satisfying indeed.  Of course, this also added to the impression of perceived sweetness on the olfactory data.

The Taste: Well, the Papaya made its way pleasantly to the palate.  The middle developed some nice caramel touches and some grains.  I wouldn’t call the beer overly malty, but it did have a decent mouth-feel.  Hop Stoopid was unmistakably hoppy throughout, but the real hop edge and bitterness really came on the finish.  A touch of alcohol warmth also graced the palate.  One negative perception that I had of the beer was that the very end of the aftertaste had a soapy quality to it.  Not overbearing but there.

Overall, Hop Stoopid was a good beer.  I found myself wishing that it had more grain content and residual sweetness.  The soapy quality also caused me to give this beer a lower marking than I might have. Be that as it may, I would still recommend that you pick one up and try it.

Mike’s Rating:

Overall Satisfaction: ★★★¾☆ 

Among other Stoopidly Hopped Beers: ★★★★☆