Category: IPAs and Pales

Fat Head’s Brewery – Head Hunter IPA Review

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Head Hunter IPAAll You Need to Know

Brewery: Fat Head’s Brewery
Style: IPA
ABV: 7.5%
Cost: $6.00 (12oz)
Glassware: Tulip, Spiegelau
Temp: 50°F
Availability: Year Round
Purchased@: Capone’s Bottle Shop

Quick Take: This is like a battle between East and West Coast IPAs with the bitter, hoppy East winding up victorious. I normally like my IPAs to have a better fruit/malt presence with balanced bitterness, but I can’t fault the bitter-is-better crowd if this is one of their favs. For me, a solid IPA that I will have again any time, but at $6 a bottle, I won’t be going out of my way to add this to my regular drinking beers.

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Uinta Brewing – Detour Double IPA Review

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Uinta DetourAll You Need to Know

Brewery: Uinta Brewing
Style: DIPA
ABV: 9.5%
Cost: $3.82 (12oz)
Glassware: Tulip
Serving Temp: 50°F
Availability: Year Round
Purchased@: Shenandoah Hops

Quick Take: The enjoyment of this beer will really depend on your tongue’s relationship with hops and malt. I can appreciate this for being a bit different, but the sweet malt ends up being crushed by the dry, floral bitter finish, making for a beer at odds with itself. For my money, I think this is an affordable IPA that doesn’t play it safe but ends up providing a confused taste.

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Anchorage Brewing – Bitter Monk Review

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Anchorage Bitter MonkAll You Need to Know

Brewery: Anchorage Brewing
Style: Belgian DIPA
ABV: 9%
Cost: $18 (22oz)
Glassware: Tulip
Temp: 50°F
Availability: Year Round? (not sure)
Purchased@: Teresa’s Next Door Bar

Quick Take: Anchorage has created a chardonnay-barreled, Belgian IPA with brett that is both unique AND well-crafted. The vinous qualities and brett really take this beyond the humble roots of the style. If drank too cold or fast, I could see missing the subtle elements and not thinking much of it. Take some time with this beer and you’ll find a surprisingly refined, complex beer that is a highlight of the Belgian IPA style.

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Episode 11 – Great Lakes – Chillwave

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Episode 11 of Drew’s Brews Reviews is here! The beer review show you never knew you wanted and no one needs. The IPA train keeps on rolling and here comes Chillwave, a beer released in February, that I drank in April, and I’m finally finishing the review in practically June. Sigh… Anyway, even though this is not a beer readily available at this time, I thought it is one worth talking about. People are probably a little sick of the West Coast IPAs at this point, but there is room to discuss at least one more before we slip into the summer months, which is of course Coors country. Thank you for existing Coors Light Summer Brew…thank you.

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Mikkeller – 1000 IBU Review

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Mikkeller 1000 IBU.All You Need to Know

Brewery:  Mikkeller
Style: Imperial IPA
ABV: 9.6%
Cost:  $15 (12oz)
Glassware: Tulip
Temp: 55°F
Availability: Rotating
Purchased@: Friendly Greek

Quick Take: While lacking complexity, Mikkeller’s 1000 IBU beer is much more refined than I anticipated. The 1000 IBU aspect is a bit of a gimmick and the cost is a little steep, but the follow through on a quality, mega-hopped beer makes this one worth trying. You have to be in an IPA state of mind and want the dirtiest, most lingering hops bitter finishes I have come across yet, but even IPA interested people can find something to like here.

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