“Bone dry and ultra hoppy Double IPA. Brewed with 80% more hops than our already extremely hoppy HopWired IPA. Will be launched at the Annual Westcoast IPA Challenge at the Malthouse in Wellington on Thursday July 14th 2011”.
From arguably the best brewery in New Zealand comes one of the best DIPA’s in New Zealand. Served in an IPA glass the translucent, deep-ish gold pour whipped up a frenzied two and a half finger head with excellent retention and lacing. Plenty of fruity hop-driven aromas flowing out here, we would say pineapple, passion fruit, grapefruit and lychee are the dominant scents. The pilsner malt base is quite dwarfed but subtle grainy wafts do pull the aggressive hop aromas back a tad. The mouth feel is frothy with medium carbonation. Medium-full body. We relish in big bitter IPA’s and the IBU (90) packs a big initial lip puckering bite. Big lashings of grapefruit and pine highlight the bitterness through the mid-palate while a subtle malt base and a hint of caramel slightly pulls the hops back into line. Long drawn out finish is dry and citric, great duration. Love the creative emphasis on all the 8’s in this brew with 8.8% ABV and 80% more hops it is a brilliant IPA. If you’re a hop lover you will dig this. Absolute pearler from this well respected Kiwi establishment.