Big Island Brewhaus — Belgian Style Strong Ale vs. IPA

Big Island Brewhaus
Overboard IPA

ABV 6.9%

Big Island Brewhaus
Golden Sabbath
(Belgian Style Specialty Ale Brewed with Hawaiian Honey) 
ABV 8.5%

Yep, we were in Hawaii. While there we managed to fit in a few beers in between the Mai Tais. Despite the fact that we were on Maui, I picked up these two beers from the Big Island for a battle. Don't fret, we drank our share of Maui Brewing Company's canned beers but we were too busy lazing around the beach to organize an official battle with those.

The Golden Sabbath was full of banana and clove aromas. It tasted mostly malty with notes of dark dried fruits, banana and honey. The finish was a bit clunky, with a surprising amount of bitterness and a touch of grain alcohol.

The Overboard IPA featured a blast of citrus hops in the aroma while the flavor ventured into the tropical fruit arena. The finish was a superb balance of hops and malts with moderate bitterness.

It wasn't much of a fight. The Overboard crushed the Sabbath. It would have been closer if not for the weird finish of the Sabbath that neither of us cared for.

Two side notes:
1) We drank four different IPAs on the trip (Kona Castaway, Maui Big Swell, something from Ballast Point in San Diego and Overboard) and Overboard was our favorite of the lot.

2) Our second favorite beer on the trip was a draft beer from Hawaii Nui Brewing called Bitter Brown (which is probably the same as their Hapa Brown). Great brown ale that was pleasantly packed with plenty of hops! 

Unanimous decision: Overboard IPA