Old Yale Brewing Co. Hazy Hopped Double IPA – American Double / Imperial IPA at 8.5% ABV | 15 IBU (C$4.45 at Collective, 473 ml, no packaging date or best before, acquired 28-Feb-2023, reviewed 3-Mar-2023)
Appearance: hazy/murky pale amber with two fat fingers of rocky ivory head, excellent retention and moderate soapy lacing. (3/5) Aroma: caramel and cereal grains, stewed fruits, earth, light pine. (6/10) Taste: moderate-high sweet, low bitter, light tart. (6/10) Palate: medium-full body, moderate carbonation, sticky medium duration slightly warming finish. (4/5)
Brewer notes say this is hopped with El Dorado and Talus, and call it “big, bold and juicy, offering hop-forward notes of tropical Fruit, Pineapple and Stonefruit”. Aside from their egregious lack of Oxford commas, this statement is woefully inaccurate. What it is, is malt-forward, with a flavour profile that’s just as muddy as its appearance. The finish actually isn’t bad: reasonable duration despite being fairly sweet and sticky, with relatively restrained boozy warming. Including a couple of collaborations which actually pull the average up, my previous experience with this brewer was for n=11, μ=6.1 & σ=1.21 – so, yes, their average performance was right around my “well, it’s probably not actually damaged” floor. (Six, in case you’re wondering, or three out of five. Under there be dragons. And the reason it’s not halfway at five is, there’s a lot more ways to fuck it up than to get it right. I don’t go that low often, because, honestly? I don’t waste my time with shit beers. Well, not often, anyway.) This one isn’t forcing me to re-evaluate my opinion of them, and to be honest I’m thinking maybe they’ve used up their chances with me. (12/20)
This will be my 5,500th unique Untappd check-in.
6/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com
