Another round of Double IPAs & their place in drinking culture

Another round of Double IPAs and their place in drinking culture

As the usually to the point beer writer Matthew Curtis noted earlier in April, given the reported shortage of hops world-wide (not I suspect East Kent Goldings) and perhaps particularly hops that have, broadly, citrus related characteristics, it is perhaps a little surprising that this month has seen the launch of a number of new Double IPAs (DIPAs)

Such beers, invariably strong in alcohol (and high in price) as well as robustly flavoured may well not be to everyone’s liking. They are beers for sipping in halves or perhaps preferably thirds, certainly not for drinking pints of.

I’ve tried a number- Track’s Cobotix (8%) at the Euston Tap and Cloudwater’s DIPA v3 (9%) at the Hop Locker and also in bottle.

I thought both those good beers with perhaps the Cloudwater shading my choice for best.

I’ve also tried the latest iteration of Magic Rock’s Human & Un-Human Cannonball on draught but not yet in can and bottle respectively. Finally I also imbibed, on draught, the latest iteration of Brewdog’s Born to Die (draught, Brewdog Cardiff) and a bottle of it is resting in the fridge

In the end I’m not sure which of these beers was the most beard friendly.

In a blind tasting I could probably tell the difference between the beers but I wouldn’t absolutely guarantee it.

Boak and Bailey have got around the criticism for the sake of it to hype continuum by declining to take a view. Fair enough in the sense that drinkers themselves will decide if they like a beer:

http://boakandbailey.com/2016/04/schrodingers-beer-non-review-cloudwater-dipa-v3/

Clearly different recipes, hops and yeast are used but the bottom line defining characteristic is that these are strong beers that are easy (some might say a little too easy) to drink and do not taste sweet and cloying.

Until very recently a beer of 8-9% or above would almost invariably taste like that and would in my view be more or less undrinkable as a result.

That, thanks to the brewer’s art and ambition, is no longer the case.

Progress, unless of course you like really sweet beer.

I’m not sure that a comparison could be made with a fine wine or one-off malt whisky in terms of specificity, but then again perhaps it could. Beer is underwritten, certainly in the UK, because proletarians drink it and clearly they can’t have refined tastes, can they…

There is also an issue, not just because of hop shortage issues, about how far and how long ‘hop forward’ beers will continue to be popular and possible. At the moment they clearly still are and after decades of drinking beers that certainly could not be described as that.

Beer at its best though is surely a balance of malt and hops and it is that balance, when right, that drives the impulse and desire to have another glass