All You Need to Know
Brewery: Sixpoint Brewery
Style: DIPA (Double IPA)
ABV: 9.8%
My Cost: $13 (4pk)
Glassware: Snifter, Puff Glass
Temp: 50°F
Availability: Limited
Purchased@: Friendly Greek
Quick Take: Puff bridges a gap for those that like their IPAs West coast caramel, resin, pine and grapefruit, adding in a danker element that dances around the upper New York area and not quite going full New England. It doesn’t have the deepest hop profile or palate challenging flavors, but damn if it isn’t tasty and one of the best I’ve had from Sixpoint in quite some time. An absolute winner.
Brew Facts: This is essentially a dry-hopped, unfiltered version of Resin. Sixpoint refers to this as a “throwback” beer to the time when beers were unfiltered, un-carbonated brewer’s reserve specialties. They are also quick to point out that back in 2004, Bengali Tiger was apparently just as cloudy. So don’t be accusing them of hopping aboard the unfiltered IPA bandwagon.
Appearance: Like a glass of liquid resin that brought it’s own fluffy goose down pillow to the party. If you like your head thick, and who doesn’t, get in there right away as it isn’t built to last, fading in a few minutes. The peach-hued amber gold beer underneath is standard, but a nice looker. It’s not clear, though I’d describe it closer to chill haze than an all out cloudy IIPA. My perception is probably clouded (zing?) by having some down right turbid Tired Hands beers, making anything else look like cut diamonds.
Aroma: Same as the head, get in there quick if you want to inhale the danker side of Puff. A perfume of grapefruit/pineapple, sesame/cannabis dank pine holds strong on the initial pour, but dissipates to a degree as it warms. Sweet resin, which initially struggles under that dank weight, grows as the other elements fade. This plays with some of the boozy crystal malt aromas that you don’t always get with mid-ABV New England style IPAs.
Taste/Mouth Feel: The carbonation is low to near flat, which allows for a slippy alcohol heft to slick around the mouth and tongue. It’s near syrupy thickness borders chewey. Basically, if you’ve had Resin, you know what to expect and know that it works well for an IIPA. The taste is a surprising mix of the dank pine with the slightest touch of canabis and a mid-caramel/crystal sweetness that transitions smoothly to a dry, rippy grapefruit bitterness. Puff really separates itself from the New England crowd with a hot finish and huge, dusty bitter surge that lasts for days as my daughter would say. The level of finishing bitterness cannot be overstated, with a back end that drinks like it’s holding all 108 IBUs.
Final Thoughts: Puff bridges a gap for those that like their beer West coast caramel, resin, pine and grapefruit, adding in a danker element that dances around the upper New York area and not quite going full New England. Frankly, I think that makes it a more interesting niche beer along the lines of Fathead’s Hop JuJu, a fantastic imperial IPA, and even has a bit in common with Sip of Sunshine. This beer isn’t for someone dabbling in IPAs or likes mild bitterness. This is a proper IIPA that isn’t afraid of the early addition hops.
Should this become a regular release, I think this will be a go-to high alcohol IIPA when I want a change of pace from the hop juice without having to sacrifice the dank. It doesn’t have the deepest hop profile or palate challenging flavors, but damn if it isn’t tasty and one of the best I’ve had from Sixpoint in quite some time. An absolute winner.
Trade-Worthiness: IIPA fans get on this while you can (get it).
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