Mikkeller, Imperial IPA Centennial

Another smashing DIPA (imperial) from Mikkeller, every bit as good as their Nelson. Super strong fragrance, low carb, robust mouthfeel. Orange, grapefruit and pine. Long, very bitter finish. These are possibly the best DIPAs around.

Summer Wine, Maelstrom

Non-hazy bottled IPAs aren't appealing to me anymore (über cheap versions from Tesco nonwithstanding), particularly when I pay close to a fiver for them. (Give me a Kernel, Weird Beard, Moor, Siren, Redchurch etc etc. Excessive yeast sediment used to upset me, but I've come to love it and that pepperines it brings.)

In fairness, I've had a Sabretooth and a Diablo on keg (Fox E8, also a pint of Diablo on cask at the Westow I think) and they were sublime, misty and cloudy tropical beasts. I suspect that draught Maelstrom is much in that vein. This bottle was ok, but i think my prejudices stopped me from enjoying it as fully as I might have. Pine and a thick bitterness, but a little thin for 9% and, without the haze, it felt as though there was something missing... For some reason, the word 'maelstrom' will forever remind me of Peter O'Toole falling into the Vortex in Supergirl.

Tesco Finest, American Double IPA (Brewdog Hardcore IPA)

9.2% of (Brewdog) IPA from Tesco for £1.99?? Yes please.

The Kernel Brewery, 2013

I try to keep the beer bottles I drink for photographing. They're rinsed and then they sit in a Sainsbury's bag under the sink until I get an opportunity to photograph them in a way in which I've planned out in my head. I shot a previous run of posts where there was a common theme and I'd hoped to continue it with this second batch of Kernel bottles. However, my mind is in clear-out mode at the moment, so I plumped for something quick and simple instead this time.

Kernel beers are very possibly the best in London, if not Europe. Quality control is obviously very high and it's rare to have a bad, even an average beer from them. (Going through these images for this blog has got me salivating for them at 8 in the morning. That's not good is it....) I know that it's largely redundant reviewing Kernels but sod it: I'm a completist so indulge me.

Imperial Brown Stout

Version photographed is obviously not the 1856 version (I suppose they're not too dissimilar from one another). Smell of raisins, oil and booze in the gob, barely carbonated and heavy coffee flavours. I find that when this is chilled, I get more of the grassy/freshness element of the hops which I really like. Drunk at a warm room temperature, this is a very imposing drink which really oughtn't to be drunk after a night out.

I've got a stash of bottles of the 1856 version which were bottled in Jan 2103 - they're more or less perfect for me: very smooth (unctuous) in the mouth and highly drinkable. There was a batch which was bottled over half a year later in October 2013 and I remember them being quite harsh by contrast. Not unpleasant by any means, but there was certainly a sort of mild 'stripping' effect on the palate and throat whilst drinking. Anyway, left to condition for a year or more, this impy is rivalled only by the De Struise Black Albert. I've got a weird (and slightly sad) OCD thing that I can't not know that I have at least 2 bottles of this in the flat at all times.

Simcoe IPA

I went a bit silly with this one and bought quite a few. Ultimately, I think I preferred the Mosaic version, but I came into a bit more dosh around the time this came out so I indulged. Archetypal cat piss IPA this one, with stupid tropicalness and stratospheric drinkability.

Mosaic IPA

As above but better.

CREAM IPA

There's this cool game that you can play with the Kernel brews - "Guess The Acronym". Actually, it's not that cool (Chinook, Riwaka, Ella, Ahatanum, Moteuka). Anyway, this Wu-Tang inspired IPA was actually not so much to my tastes. Which is annoying as it makes me feel that I'm one of those lupulin idiots who's only impressed by hop IEDs. Anyway, in some (very probably) psycho somatic way, this IPA tasted like cream soda with a little tangerine on the edges. Hoppy obviously, but quite a mild drink in terms of overt flavours, much like their subtle Ella pale ale that came out around the same time iirc.

Double 4C

4C? Chinook, Columbus, Centennial and ummm....hang on...err...is it...maybe...Cascade? DIPAs (or imperial IPAs or whatever) from Kernel are rare. This was one of only 2 (I think) from 2013, the other being their Double Citra which was bloody brilliant and won the CAMRGB best of 2013 award. the Double 4C wasn't as good. Thick mouth feel, foam sweets etc but it was a bit flat and lacked something, not sure what though. I'd love it if the Kernel did more DIPAs. Maybe a DBIPA would be nice....(please..?)

Barrel Aged Stout

Noteless for this one. I imagine it was a bit like this one. In a world of almost parodical beer label blurbs, this one makes me laugh.

Imperial Brown Stout, London 1856 B.A. Glen Spey

Sensational BA impy. Heavy whisky nose and taste with a viscous booze at the end of each sip. £6/bottle is about right, I bought a few and I've got one left. Good until 2020 apparently.

To Øl, Final Frontier

DIPA from Danish geeks To Øl. Dark in colour with an insane head. Gloopy and thick.

Aamger Bryghus, Sinners Series: Gluttony

After our anniversary trip to Copenhagen (didn't visit the Amager brewery, but then it was an anniverary trip wasn't it), I had a bit of a greed to the Danish beers in. Luckily for me, I managed to snaffle a few of the remaining stock that Beers Of Europe had. This DIPA from Amager was orange/lemon/lime on the nose, grapefruit and bitter orange in the gob along with (my notes say) "clean mediterranean forest and yeast". (Make of that what you will #craftwanker.) Very light, couldn't be described as thick (as you might expect from a DIPA). No trace of booze whatsoever. At 9.7%, you could get blind drunk off this very easily indeed.

Weird Beard Co, Holy Hoppin' Hell Part 3

Stale hops with minimal citrus sniffed off the bottle neck. Taste is overwhelmingly solvet - nail varnish remover. (Excessive ethyl acetate as a by product of aggressive (too warm?) fermentation of the yeast? Have I got that right?) A chewy, grassy hop bitterness, which was great, but the chemically edge still lingered for most of this. The gentle caramelly malt profile came through as my glass warmed. The after-bitterness lingered but it wasn't that strong. Overall, a slightly disappointing instalment in the Holy Hoppin' DIPA series from Weird Beard.

Stone Brewing Company, Ruination IPA

Vicky and I shared this bottle after a long drive back from visiting my extended family for Wigilia. Previously, we'd both sampled this (double?) IPA from Stone on keg at the Westow where it was quite impressive: hazy, thick, obviously obscenely hoppy and brilliant (and possibly a lower abv?). I'm afraid to say that this bottle didn't quite measure up. Hoppy yes, piney bitterness yes, but not thick, not hazy and unfortunately not my cuppa to be honest. I was expecting something akin to Racer 5 - bottle conditioned with a good amount of the relevant body to it, but more so for a DIPA at 8%+¹. This was, dare I say it, actually a bit thin? For me, the Danes and O'Riordan do DIPAs better. This bottle set me back £4.60(ish) from Utobeer.

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1 Of course I've been griping about the yeast in BC beers in recent posts, but it certainly seems that BC'd IPAs produce my favourite type, i.e: Hoppiness, nearly all Kernels and Rechurch Great Eastern.

Weird Beard Co, Holy Hoppin' Hell #1

My first experience of this line from Weird Beard was when I had the #2 version out of a plastic cup, courtesy of a tap takeover at the Look Mum No Hands pop up (part of last summer's Neighbourhood Festival at the South Bank). That one was a hefty 9.5% (iirc) which might possibly have been a bit to much, the alcohol being pretty obvious. The bottle photographed above was a take away from Beer Rebellion. It might not have been strictly speaking super-fresh, but was great nonetheless - Rio Riva, Lilt and pineapple flavours, a decent viscosity tempered with an appropriate level of carbonation.

It's not the drink, but who you're with: on another occasion, I shared a bottle of this with 2 friends (also at Beer Rebellion - basically a quadruple shot measure each?) one of whom is familiar with US style beer, the other a Belgian beer freak. The beer tasted better than I had experienced it before and my 2 esteemed colleagues loved it.

Kernel Brewery, Double Citra

My first DIPA experience I think? Set the bar really quite high this one from Kernel. Very hazy pour, much deeper in colour than the pale ale version (being drunk next to me by my wife). Obviously a fat and healthy body to it. Intense tropical flavours. Pursing the lips after swallowing seemed to trap the alcohol around the gums - you could certainly get a feeling for the 9.7% alcohol this way. I liked this drink quite a bit - I felt it deserved the Tarkovsky background.

Odell Brewery, Myrcenary

My second experience of the DIPA style (after a recent double citra from Kernel) - the Myrcenary from Odell Brewing Company. I remember this one pouring more or less the same colour as a commercial lager. The nose was relatively subdued and despite a commendably disguised abv, the taste was actually quite lacking - nothing really jumped out at me. Bit of a disappointment really - 90s pretty much across the board on the beer rating sites, so I was expecting something rich, citrusy and full bodied. Hmmm. Again, as with the standard IPA, this bottle was from the start of the year and I was drinking it some months later. Maybe this had something to do with it, maybe not. Purchased from Mr Lawrence.