The Masala Mama Shall Be Ours

Some brewery called Minneapolis Town Hall makes the world's highest-rated IPA on BeerAdvocate.com. It is called Masala Mama and my friend Steve who writes Summer of Beer has managed to acquire a growler of this hard to find beast in anticipation of my trip out here.

I'm heading his way from San Diego today, so hopefully we'll be able to split that and see what the great reviews are all about. Nice friend, huh?

Brew Review: Founder's Devil Dancer Triple IPA

Yet another Brew Review here as happens occasionally at Baltimore Beer Guy. This is a "Triple IPA" from Founders Brewing in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The bottle says it has 13% ABV, yikes. Founders is famous for their Breakfast Stout, Rubaeus and Kentucky Breakfast Stout.

Many thanks to my fellow beer geek Steve at Summer of Beer who sent this may way recently.

First off, it pours a very, very dark reddish-amber color. Not much of a head, yellowish what did fizz up though. I'm getting alcohol in the aroma right away. Hops too obviously, sort of sweeter hop aroma instead of bitter though. Maybe some malt sweetness too.

... First sip: whoah. Nice, filmy gooey texture that I like in pale ales and IPA's, but um ... this is ridiculously bitter. Surprisingly, it's up front more than back of the throat bitter as the unpleasantness mostly faded away in rapid fashion. That won't last for a full pint though.

... The taste is definitely distinctive, I'm getting some hop flavors but nothing familiar to most IPA's I enjoy. Just an odd brew right here. It comes in real strong but sort of retreats after a few seconds. Struggling to find what to compare it to. I appreciate originality in a beer so it's nice to taste something I haven't necessarily tried before (I've had many triple IPA's, but not one like this).

As far as the hop flavor, I'm starting to summon maybe the BridgePort (Oregon) IPA I had many, many moons ago when I was first learning about beer. There's something similar in flavors between these two although this is a much more aggressive, less refreshing example. If I remember correctly, BridgePort is a British style IPA. There's some things that are quite enjoyable about the Bridgeport and to a lesser degree this Devil's Dancer, but it's a strained revelation of those fun tastes where I like something more upfront.

Their website says this beer has more IBU's than any brewery has documented. Nice, so far I've stood up to them, but its intense. They dry-hop it for 26 days straight with a combination of 10 hop varieties. It is produced quarterly.

... It is starting to sweeten up (malt coming through!) as we go along. More balanced now with a bit of warming and a brief respite for the mouth to sort of get its act together. Not bad, I'd written it off but it's growing on me. Lots of fun little bitter elements if you know how to find them hiding in your mouth. The more I have, the more I realize how drinkable this is, which is surprising how off-putting it was at the start.

This is a good beer for someone chasing hops but who doesn't enjoy the west coast "hop bombs" but isn't particularly in love with the flatter, drab, stuffy British and east-coast style IPA's. It's a compromise, if that's possible for such a potent monster.

Alright, time to finish this sucker. Not bad, definitely improved as I drank it, lots to like, try it if you can get it from a rather famous and talented brewer.

Brew Review: Clay Pipe Hop-Ocalypse IPA

Poured this Maryland native from a 12 oz bottle into a standard point. Sort of a weird, bright white, crunchy head. Mild aroma. A watery IPA. Reddish-amber in color.

This didn't fit the West Coast massively hopped IPA taste profile despite the ominous name. It kind of flies solo as far as IPA's go, not West Coast, not East Coast, not British IPA (flavor-wise), which I sort of appreciate. I actually liked this beer, but it's just quite watery and mild for an IPA but the flavor, while challenging to describe, was suitable.

Folks new to IPA's might like this beer, as it doesn't kill you with the sort of tart, potent hop bitterness of most IPA's, particularly the more popular versions. My notes from last night said "highly drinkable". The flavor was more pine than citrus as far as the classic IPA "pine and citrus" definition goes.

Worth a try, feel free to let me know in comments what you think of this Maryland native! It earned a B- (3.49 average) at Beer Advocate.

Brew Review: Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA

Hmmmm ... not good.

This beer sounded quite interesting and had splendid reviews on Beer Advocate (4.23 average score!), but I really struggled with it.

It was billed as a double IPA, "without the harshness". Weyerbacher used synthetic Simcoe Hops, developed in 2000 by Select Botanicals LLC, allowing for maximum aromatic oils and minimum harshness. For whatever reason, and this is likely a purely personal thing, this went down poorly. Obviously this is nothing against the brewer particularly of such a well regarded beer, but it didn't work for me. Maybe my tastes were off, maybe it was a skunked bottle, who knows.

It's rare when I struggle with a beer as much as I did this one so I'm a little depressed at the experience. I don't know how to describe it other than that I was almost queasy in the stomach as I finished the last half of my pint. I absolutely love harsh IPA's and their power. This thing actually came across as equally powerful but with something else strange going on.

As far as the basics, it came from a 12 oz bottle poured into a standard pint glass. There was a fun root beer float type head, and the pour was your standard dark amber IPA color. Its aroma was almost candylike, quite sweet and light. The hop taste was much more pine than citrus, but there was an odd back of the mouth taste.

I asked my friend Summer of Beer Steve about this and he also didn't like it, although as we looked at his review over instant messenger he laughed that it sounded tasty right now given what he'd said about it.

It's anecdotal at this point, but Alexander D. Mitchell IV of "Beer in Baltimore" also disliked this double IPA, saying "Weyerbacher's Double Simcoe a few years back left me almost wincing in semi-pain as just too "over-the-top" in more ways than one". Yikes. Our voices are in the minority, but that's taste for ya, everyone's is a little bit different.

We're open minded here so this Pennsylvania brewery and the particular beer won't be written off, but this wasn't the best of starts.