Imperial IPAs — Left Coast Brewing vs. High Water Brewing

Left Coast Brewing

Hop Juice

Double IPA

ABV 9.7%

High Water Brewing

Hop Logic

Imperial IPA 
ABV 9.5%

 

Two California beers squared off in this battle. Hop Juice hails from Left Coast brewing in southern California while Hop Logic represents High Water Brewing in Chico. Both beers claim to use a mixture of five different hops which is interesting, but perhaps more interesting is who made a better beer with all those hops. 

Beer #1 (High Water Brewing Hop Logic) was a clear orangish-brown with earthy, spicy hops coming through on the nose. It had a rich, almost creamy, full-bodied texture with flavors of tropical fruit. The finish was deep honey with a moderate bitterness and some floral hops.

Beer #2 (Left Coast Brewing Hop Juice) was a hazy pinkish-brown. The aroma was very fruity, bordering on Fruit Loops. Flavor continued with the fruitiness along with lots of honey. The finish was sweet followed by an intense and long-lasting bitterness.

Not knowing either of these breweries very well I guessed which was which based on the bottles alone. The Left Coast's nice, screen-printed bottle led me to believe that their beer would be the cleaner, clearer, more polished beverage so I guessed it was Beer #1. Wrong. Turns out that the hazy, malty and overly bitter beer was from Left Coast. High Water Brewing on the other hand, despite having an inferior label, had a much superior beer. It was an easy decision for both of us as the Hop Logic is a really, really good Imperial IPA. So good, in fact, that we will most certainly seek it out again in the future. If you like Imperial IPAs we suggest you do the same.  

Unanimous decision: High Water Brewing Hop Logic

Imperial IPAs — Lompoc vs. Natian

Lompoc Brewing

C-Sons Greetings

Imperial IPA

ABV 8%

Natian Brewery

Old Grogham

Imperial IPA 
ABV 8.5%

 
It's a Portland showdown! Lompoc represents the wily old veteran (founded in 1993) and Natian plays the part of the cocky new kid on the block (founded in 2009). Tasting was conducted blind as usual.

Beer #1 (Natian Old Grogham) was hazy brown with some orange around the edges and featured a huge head of foam. The aroma had some tropical fruit, caramel malts and a disconcerting chemical note. The flavor also had that chemical/cleaning solution profile and the finish was more malty and roasty than hoppy, with a mildly bittersweet chocolate and burnt wood finish.

Beer #2 (Lompoc C-Sons Greetings) was almost the exact same color as the Natian but had no head at all. The aroma featured lots of molasses along with some grassy hops. The flavor was strongly malty with some underlying fruitiness. It finished with a floral maltiness and a nice medium bitterness.

Interesting that neither of these Imperial IPAs seemed to show off their hops that well. Both were predominately malty and sweet which is the case with many Imperial IPAs. In our experience IIPAs usually fall into two styles: one leaning on a sweet maltiness and the other on a huge, bright and bitter hoppiness. We have no doubt that both are generously hopped, but sometimes the malts just win.

We both ended up choosing the Lompoc. It was a rich and warming brew that really made sense as a winter seasonal. With further research I found that the Natian Old Grogham had some rum soaked oak spires added during fermentation. Perhaps that explains what we perceived as a strange roasty, chocolaty and woody finish. We're all for adding complexity with spirits-soaked wood, but in this case we felt it actually detracted a bit from the beer.

Unanimous decision: Lompoc C-Sons Greetings

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

IPAs — Phat Matt's vs. Crazy Mountain

Phat Matt's IPA

ABV 7%

Crazy Mountain
Hookiebobb IPA 
ABV 6.7%

While combing over the beer shelves recently a bizarre label featuring an image of an elephant peeking out of a tangle of hop bines caught my eye. Turns out it is from Crazy Mountain Brewing, a brewery out of Vail Colorado that we've never seen in these parts before. I chose to pit it against a bottle from Oregon brewery, Phatt Matt's, whose labels are not nearly as intriguing. Beers were tasted blind as usual.

Beer #1 (Phat Matt's IPA) was a clear reddish orange with a very nice tropical fruit aroma. The flavor was bready with lots of sweet fruits and the finish was moderately bitter.

Beer #2 (Hookiebobb IPA) was a hazy brownish orange and featured a complex nose of earth, pine, ash and a bit of cat pee. The flavor was very herbal and savory with some citrus in the finish that left a harshly bitter aftertaste.

As we've discussed many times before, making a good IPA is all about getting a good balance of malt to hops. Both of these leaned a bit too much on the malty side for our tastes. In comparing the two, Ellen immediately preferred the Phatt Matt's while I waffled for a bit before finally choosing Matt's as well. The Hookiebobb was interesting at first but got stranger and stranger as it warmed up and the herbal savoriness just turned out to be too prevalent. Congrats to Phatt Matt's on wining the battle — here's hoping they have enough time in between brewing batches of beer to upgrade those labels!

Unanimous decision: Phatt Matt's IPA

Oaked Beers — Stone vs. Widmer

Stone Oaked

Arrogant Bastard

(Ale Aged with American Oak Wood Chips)

ABV 7.2%

Widmer

Downward Spiral

(Imperial India Style Pale Lager Aged on Oak Spirals)

ABV 9%

All hail oak! From wine and beer to spirits and cocktails, oak has been imparting wonderful richness and complexity to many of our favorite beverages. With my parents in town I invited my dad to help me out with a battle featuring two beers that have spent some time with wood. Beers were tasted blind as usual.

Beer #1 (Widmer Downward Spiral) was a clear orangish gold with clean, piny hop notes in the nose along with some floral orange blossom. The flavor was sweet, malty and full-bodied with some buttery flavors coming out as it warmed. Finish had two levels, offering a nice orange rind bitterness at first that eventually gave way to a rather harsh burnt wood bitterness.

Beer #2 (Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard) was quite a bit darker with a reddish brown color. The aroma featured chocolate, herbs and cedar. The flavor was mostly bitter, dark chocolate and the finish featured an aggressive bitterness with some light vanilla notes to go along with burnt toast and charcoal.

It was an evenly matched battle, albeit featuring two beers that were not my favorites. Neither beer seemed to offer much in the way of oak character aside from possibly some enhanced bitterness and tannins. Ellen (despite not being a full participant in the battle), took a whiff and a sip and pointed out the butteriness in the Widmer. This is likely the result of some diacytl which is commonly found in beer, but in large amounts can dominate a beer in a negative way. In my many tastings with friends and family I've discovered that some people are far more sensitive to diacytl than others. We have another bottle, so I'm curious to see if we detect butter in that one as well.

In the end, as is often the case with fathers and sons, our opinions diverged. My dad really liked the Widmer Downward Spiral and said it was something he'd gladly drink again. I liked the Widmer at first, but as it warmed I felt that the aroma and flavor changed from pine to floral to bizarre and buttery. To me, the Oaked Arrogant Bastard didn't seem as messy. It was very bold, a bit harsh and ultimately befitting of its name.  

Split decision: I chose the Arrogant Bastard, pops chose the Downward Spiral

Pumpkin Beers — Shipyard Brewing vs. New Belgium Brewing

Kennebunkport Brewing Company

(Shipyard Brewing)

Pumpkin Ale

ABV 4.7%

New Belgium Brewing

Pumpkick

ABV 6%

For this battle we again pulled something from the shelves of Trader Joes. Included in their crazy selection of pumpkin-flavored items this year was this Pumpkin Ale from Kennebunkport Brewing Company. A little internet sleuthing revealed that KBC beer is brewed for Trader Joe's by Shipyard Brewing in Portland, Maine. The Pumpkick is from the good people at New Belgium Brewing in Colorado which gives us a Colorado vs. Maine pumpkin showdown.

Beers were tasted blind as is our custom.

Beer #1 (KBC Pumpkin Ale) was a clear golden yellow. The aroma was very sweet with lots of pumpkin pie spices and some grain. Flavorwise it was very malt forward with sweet honey notes followed with all the pie spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves) and a bit of citrus. The finish was all pie spices and sweetness with just a touch of acidic citrus.

Beer #2 (Pumpkick) was a clear brownish orange. It had a slightly vegetal aroma that also featured a sweet, roasty, toasty maltiness. There was very little carbonation and perhaps partly due to that the flavors were muted and a bit dull, featuring roasted malts and light pie spices. The finish was a strange combination of spices that didn't seem to mesh well.

We both assumed that the Pumpkick would dominate this battle. As you can see, we were wrong. It's an ambitious beer — the bottle reveals that they added cranberry juice and lemongrass along with the expected pie spices in the brewing. While we appreciate the creativity, the experiment did not work for us. The strange finish was likely a result of the lemongrass trying to find a way to live in harmony with cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. The sweet roasted malt backbone reminded us both of Fat Tire, making us wonder if Fat Tire or something similar was used as the base beer. All in all it just seemed messy.

 

The KBC Pumpkin ale was nothing to write home about but we both picked it anyway. It's a real typical mass-produced pumpkin beer with a light body and a heavy dose of pie spice — a good novelty beer but nothing real complex or exciting. We wouldn't buy either of these beers again, but don't let that steer you away from pumpkin beers in general. As we've experienced in past battles, pumpkin beers can be most excellent. Seek them out and drink them. It's a worthy pursuit.      

Unanimous decision: KBC Pumpkin Ale

IPAs — Fort George/Gigantic/Lompoc vs. Goose Island

Fort George/Gigantic/Lompoc
3-Way IPA 
ABV 6.69%

Goose Island IPA

ABV 5.9%

The two IPAs you see above come from vastly different backgrounds. The 3-Way is a collaboration beer from a trio of well-known Oregon craft breweries (Fort George in Astoria, Gigantic in Portland and Lompoc in Portland). The Goose Island hails from a seminal craft brewery in Chicago that was gobbled up a couple years ago by macro-beer behemoth, Anheuser Busch. So, it's three little guys vs. one really freaking huge guy. Exciting no? Let's see who wins.

Beers were tasted blind as is our custom.

Beer #1 (Goose Island IPA) was a clear orange/brown. The aroma was mostly malty in a floral honey sort of way. The flavor was also malty with a slight fruitiness and the finish had a mild citrusy hop bitterness.

Beer #2 (3-Way IPA) was a hazy pumpkin orange. The aroma was shockingly hoppy with huge notes of pine and cleaning solution (perhaps due to the pine). The flavor continued the hop assault with a huge resiny character followed by a long lasting, intense bitterness.

For two beers calling themselves IPA, these couldn't have been more different. The Goose Island was very one-dimensional and felt to us like it needed a bit more of a hop bite to balance the solid floral and fruity maltiness. It wasn't a bad beer, it just seemed... safe. Whether that is a result of being owned by AB or whether that is just how Goose Island has always interpreted IPA we can't say, but either way it's a beer that isn't doing much to stand out.

The 3-Way, on the other hand, seems to be continuing in the tried and true west coast tradition of hopping the holy crap out of everything. It was the obvious winner in this fight but it's not for the faint of heart. If you're the type of beer drinker that likes hop aroma to be something akin to smelling salts then this is the beer for you. We enjoyed it quite a bit but you probably won't see us swigging a 4-pack anytime soon. It seems just right for a special occasion IPA though.   

Unanimous decision: 3-Way IPA