“From independant brewery, Sawmill, this Double India Pale Ale is 8.5% Alc, with huge warming citrus and stonefruit hop aromas. The finish is precise with a refreshing bitterness.”
Served in an IPA glass. This DIPA offers a slightly hazy honey colour with a short beige head perched comfortably on top. The head retains well though, posting healthy rings as it ebbs.
Bam! The nose on this bad boy is absolutely superb! Layers of citrus and tropical fruits are doubled down by lovely crisp pine and just the right amount of warming alcohol. Loving this tangy character as well, hinting at tangerine and mandarin. Gorgeous caramel malt structure too, just an all round magnificent aroma.
It’s quite aggressive in the mouth. Big, punchy bitterness with a prickly burn from the 8.5% ABV. Dry texture. Medium body and Co2.
The flavour reminds us of those highly hop forward IPAs of yesteryear – overflowing with pithy yellow grapefruit, pine resins, passion fruit and unripe pineapple. Tonnes of grassy hop flavour forming late with little malt sweetness to counteract. This palate wrecker finishes with a harsh hop bitterness, grapefruit and a substantial alcohol burn in the tail.
Certainly one for the hop heads! Can not fault the aroma but even for us the bitterness seemed to just tip the scales on the palate. That’s the only negative though, everything else about this DIPA is top shelf. Unfortunately there’s little chance of bagging one of these in Australia (we muled this back from NZ) so if you see this on the shelves anywhere in Oz grab one post haste!