Wine Enthusiast: Our 10 Favorite Double IPAs Across the USA
Wine Enthusiast: Our 10 Favorite Double IPAs Across the USA
American craft beer drinkers are in the middle of a deep love affair with hops, but tell even the most dedicated fan that you are doing round after round after round of double India pale ale (DIPA) reviews and expect to receive an “oof” in response.
As the name suggests, double IPAs, sometimes called imperial IPAs, or the even further boundary pushing triple IPAs, turn the dial up on all of the ingredients, the alcohol content and the international bittering units (IBUs).
Mapping the progression by style, the average pale ale typically clocks in IBUs in the 30 to 40 range. Standard IPAs are in the 50s to 70s. Double IPAs push the number to 100, where the scale ends. Alcohol by volume (abv) starts in the 7% range and can go well into the teens.
Hops can be a wonderful masking agent against some of the fusel alcohol aromas that come from higher abvs, so when imbibing, pacing out the drinks is paramount. In some cases, however, the warming alcohol notes can be a pleasing attribute the style, especially when it boosts up aromas like pineapple, grapefruit and resinous pine.
These beers are often so extreme that they exude a “go big or go home” sensibility.
Parish Ghost in the Machine Ale; $14/12oz 4 pack, 97 points.
It takes some time for this hazy, pineapple-juice cocktail of a beer to truly reveal itself. It is bursting with fruit notes of mango and papaya, layered with orange peel and tangerine on the earthy wheat body. The hop bitterness grows as the glass empties, but it is such a slow process that the nature of the hops never overpowers.
