If you’re looking to add a little excitement to your life, these beers are for you.
I’ve featured IPAs over the past two weeks and I certainly don’t want to get repetitive, but these are not your typical IPAs.
In fact, the Twenty Pounder Double IPA from Driftwood Brewing and the Super Tall Hazy Double IPA from Field House Brewing are in an entirely different league.
Twenty Pounder comes in at a whopping 9% ABV (alcohol by volume) and even a single pint will be enough to get your juices flowing.
The Field House creation, which we’ll just call Super Tall for the sake of simplicity, is a measly 8.5% ABV by comparison, but the bigger can (568 ml compared to 465 ml) makes up the difference.
If you’re not into the bitter nature of an IPA, definitely avoid trying the Twenty Pounder because its IBU (international bitterness units) is off the charts.
It has a full-bodied malt backbone and is packed with Pacific Northwest hops – Centennial, Mosaic and Amarillo – which produce layers of mango, passionfruit, guava and pine.
Mosaic is the common denominator between these two beers, as it’s also found in the Super Tall alongside Citra and Krush hops.
The result is guava, citrus and tropical flavours in a beer that lives up to its hazy name with a focus on hop aroma and juiciness over perceived bitterness.
Super Tall is easy to find, as the Fraser Valley brewery’s big, strong and flavourful beer is available at BC Liquor Stores, as well as a lot of private stores, across the province.
A popular fall seasonal, Twenty Pounder was just released at the start of September and will be shipped out to private stores around BC by the end of the month, so keep an eye out!
Josh Duncan is the NowMedia news director and a craft beer lover. Reach him at [email protected]. His beer column appears every Saturday afternoon in this space. Check out his work for the BC Ale Trail here!
