Sunday, February 10, 2008

Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA


Beer: Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA
Brewery Location: Easton, PA
Beer Style: Double IPA
Serving Style: Bottle
ABV: 9.0%


I've been trying to get my hands on this beer for a little while now. It is found in Ohio, but as far as I know it is unavailable here in Indiana. I just received some in a trade.

Simcoe hops are a relative newcomer to the hop arena. It is a hybrid of hops that was made with a very high alpha-acid content, 12%+, and would impart strong bitterness without heavy harshness on the palate. According to Weyerbacher Brewing simcoe hops are a registered trademart of Select Botanicals. The bottle even shows that the word simcoe has been trademarked. I've heard so much hype about this beer, and I can't wait to give it a try.

Pours a deep amber hue with slight rustic orange highlights. A decent sized creamy head showed itself very briefly and settled into a thin blanket of head that stayed for the whole beer. This beer leaves big sheets of lacing on the walls of my pint glass. The floral notes in the nose are intense for this offering. Heavy scents of wooded pine, grapefruit rind, a certain earthiness that is associated with Amsterdam. The first flavors bring on a dry pine bitterness offset with a sweet caramel malt base and secondary flavors of citrus and orange rind. This is unlike, in a good way, any other DIPA I've tasted as of yet. This beer is medium bodied with medium carbonation on the mouthfeel, and does leave a very dry sensation on the finish. The alcohol is only slightly noticeable. The drinkability is very nice on this beer, and I would gladly purchase again.

If you like IPA's, but do not like the harshness of most DIPA's, this is the beer for you. The pine flavor is very heavy but is in no way cloying. I do have to say though that the bark of this beer is bigger than its bite. The nose outperforms the flavor on this beer, but having said that, overall it is a great offering. If this were available here in Indiana I would drink this often.

Cheers!
Matt

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You should live in PA!

This is one of my very favorite. Nice blog, I just stumbled upon it while searching for Three Floyds.

Dave in PA

CorrND said...

Nice grab! I got some of this at Christmas in NY and I thought it was great stuff. I've got some more coming from NY with my parents in a couple weeks and I'll probably look for it at Jungle Jim's this weekend too.

Jim said...

After reading about this beer in the New York Times, I've been eagerly waiting to get my hands on it.

This summer, the northside Rock Bottom had a Simcoe Pale Ale on tap. I loooooved the stuff.

Matt said...

definitely going to look for this the next time I am trapped in Ohio

Jason said...

I'm planning on opening the bottle this weekend. I will let you know what I think. I'm looking forward to it.