Imperial IPA

Stone Ruination Double IPA 2.0 Double IPA Launches

Stone Ruination IPA is officially being retired by the brewery. This news comes shortly after the announcement that Sublimely Self Righteous and Levitation Ale being retired. In its place will be Stone Ruination Double IPA 2.0.

What’s the change? Stone mentions that hop growers are always developing new and Continue Reading →

Shmaltz She’Brew, An All Female Brewed Imperial IPA

Shmaltz Brewing She”Brew Beer is is being released nationally, in honor of the 2nd Annual International Women’s Collaboration Day.

The brew occurred March 8th, 2015, featuring a few of craft beers amazing women, including Nikki Cavanaugh, co-founder of Rushing Duck Brewing Co.  Dora Phillip, Continue Reading →

Burnt Hickory Old Wooden Head Bottled

Burnt Hickory Old Wooden Head bottles have joined the brewery’s lineup as the month winds down. This is the imperial IPA’s first time in bottles.

John Bell Hood was called “Old Wooden Head” by his troops for his tenacity and hard Continue Reading →

SweetWater 420 Fest Double IPA Arrives in April

SweetWater Brewery’s (Atlanta, GA) next Dank Tank Series offering celebrates eleven years of their popular 420 fest.

SweetWater 420 Fest Double IPA features an 8% imperial IPA using lemon drop hops and a new experimental breed.

100% Marris Otter grain for clean, Continue Reading →

Posted in Ecliptic Brewing, Stone Brewing Co., Wicked Weed Brewing Co

Stone Points Unknown IPA with Wicked Weed & Ecliptic Ships

Stone Points Unknown IPA, a three-way collaboration featuring Ecliptic Brewing (Portland, OR) and Asheville, North Carolina’s Wicked Weed Brewing has hit shelves.

if you know anything about these three breweries, then the result of the collaboration will make perfect sense. Not one style was going to to properly envelop these brewery’s styles, so they brewed two beers. Stone Points Unknown IPA is a double IPA, blended with a barrel aged Belgian-style tripel.

In creating our latest collaboration beer, It wasn’t easy deciding how best to pool the resources of brewers from three spatially distant points within the brewing universe: Portland, Oregon brewing legend and Ecliptic Brewing founder John Danis, and Luke and Walt Dickinson, the hop-and-funk brewmaster duo behind Asheville, North Carolina’s Wicked Weed Brewing. It seemed no single beer could adequately convey all that they and Stone Brewmaster Mitch Steele bring to the brewhouse. So, this veritable triad of power opted to brew TWO beers: a traditional Belgian-style tripel and a West Coast imperial IPA. Doing so allowed them to work within the parameters of all styles while taking things in interesting directions, adding a touch of Southern Califomia style and petting into the spirit! The tripelwas transferred into barrels that originally housed red wine before finding a second life as vessels for aging tequila. Four months later,that beer was excavated, then blended at a one-fifth to four-fifths ratio with the freshly brewed double IPA to create the beer you now hold: a hind of the traditional and the new, presenting a variety of diverse flavors that coalesce into something more unique than any one beer our trio could have conceived. Its eventual flavors were a mystery to even the group of master brewers who created it, but now they await the palates of those thirsting to venture to points unknown within the rapidly expanding craft beer galaxy. In other words: You.

Stone Points Unknown IPA is now available in 22oz bottles and draft.

Style: American Strong Ale (Barrel Aged. Tequila.)
Availability: 22oz Bottles, Draft.
Distribution: AK, AL, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MT, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, VT, WA and Puerto Rico.

Internationally: Australia; Alberta and British Columbia, Canada; Japan; Singapore; Sweden; and United Kingdom
Release: Mid-May, 2015

9% ABV 

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Coming Soon, Headlines, Shmaltz Brewing

Extreme Session Beer: Shmaltz Wishbone Session Double IPA

How about an extreme session beer? Shmaltz Wishbone Session Double IPA is a releasing a “sessionable” extreme beer for the lovers of hops.

Shmaltz, meaning chicken fat in Yiddish, pays homage to its cultural roots with a delightful bold IPA, loaded with the tropical edge of hops including calypso, citra and Amarillo. Pure craft beer comfort cooked up for session after session of hoppy taste bud delight.

Shmaltz Wishbone Session Double IPA arrives in June, in 12oz bottles and draft.

Style: Imperial IPA
Availability: 12oz Bottles, Draft. June – September seasonal.
Launch: June, 2015

8% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Don't Miss This, Stone Brewing Co.

Stone Ruination Double IPA 2.0 Double IPA Launches

Stone Ruination IPA is officially being retired by the brewery. This news comes shortly after the announcement that Sublimely Self Righteous and Levitation Ale being retired. In its place will be Stone Ruination Double IPA 2.0.

What’s the change? Stone mentions that hop growers are always developing new and experimental varietals. Mitch Steele and the Stone brewing team picked a few new favorites for Ruination 2.0. Additionally, a few new techniques, like “hop-bursting.” The bursting technique focuses on getting the aroma out of the hops without adding extra bitterness.

Stone Ruination Double IPA 2.0 will feature Centennial, Citra, Simcoe, and Azacca hops.

When this double IPA first hit the scene in 2002, the hoppy beer landscape was far different than it is today. Ales offering an onslaught of resinous humulus lupulus were virtually unknown. Thankfully, that is no longer the case. Terms such as “lupulin” and “IBU” are well established in the craft beer lexicon. And with the knowledge of all that hops have to offer comes the desire to go beyond bracing bitterness. Fortunately, Stone Ruination IPA has always been crafted to celebrate all facets of the hop—its beauty and poetry, its boldness and might. As craft beer has evolved, so too have techniques for extracting the best and the most out of hops. So we modernized Stone Ruination IPA, coaxing every last drop of piney, citrusy, tropical essence from the Centennial, Citra, Simcoe and Azacca hops that give this beer its incredible character. Join us in cheering this, the second stanza in our “Liquid Poem to the Glory of the Hop.”

Stone Ruination Double IPA 2.0 is now available in 12oz bottles, 22oz bottles, and draft. 21

Style: Imperial IPA
Hops: Centennial, Citra, Simcoe, Azacca
Availability: 22oz Bottles, 12oz Bottles, Draft.

Release: Mid-April, 2015

8.5% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Hi Wire Brewing, New Releases

Hi Wire Man eater Double IPA, Plus an IPA Tap Ambush

Hi-Wire Man eater Double India Pale Ale releases on Friday, April 17th. The imperial IPA arrives just twice a year.

Man eater Oh-Oh here she comes. Our entire year’s allotment of Citra and Amarillo hops went into this beer. A delicate yet complex malt profile allows these classic IPA hops to shine in this high-gravity concoction. Dare to enter the ring.

To celebrate, Hi-Wire is partnering with breweries across North Carolina to bring an IPA Tap Ambush to downtown Asheville.

The South Slope tasting room (use this name in the future once the new facility goes live) will feature IPAs from Fonta Flora, Birdsong, Fullsteam, Haw River, Deep River and more.

Food  provided by Foothills Meats, and live music will be playing from 6pm – 10pm.

Hi-Wire Man eater Double India Pale Ale 22oz bottles will be available for $8.

Style: Imperial IPA
Availability: 22oz Bottles, Draft.
Release: 4/17/15

8.3% ABV 

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Headlines, Shmaltz Brewing

Shmaltz She’Brew, An All Female Brewed Imperial IPA

Shmaltz Brewing She”Brew Beer is is being released nationally, in honor of the 2nd Annual International Women’s Collaboration Day.

The brew occurred March 8th, 2015, featuring a few of craft beers amazing women, including Nikki Cavanaugh, co-founder of Rushing Duck Brewing Co.  Dora Phillip, co-owner of The Hollow Bar + Kitchen, Jennifer Allen of Saratoga Eagle Sales and Service, Tara Akstull, Jaclyn Papa and Shmaltz Brewing Co. staff Brigid Clare, Liz Nagle, Amanda Gomez, Shelby Schneider, Chris Dufrain, Richie Saunders and Shmaltz Jeremy Cowan.

“International Women’s Collaboration Brew Day was created to raise awareness of women working in the beer industry and to encourage women to enjoy and embrace beer,” says Denise Ratfield, IWCBD Coordinator. “Through the efforts of hundreds of women brewing together around the world, we are achieving this goal with each successive brew. In addition to the joy of camaraderie, we gain a special satisfaction in knowing that money raised funds the Pink Boots Society scholarship program and local charities.”

The team created a triple IPA, nearly four pounds per barrel of Calypso, Citra, Crystal and Amarillo hops. Schmaltz She’Brew will be available in 22oz bottles, in select Sh’maltz markets. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Pink Boots Society scholarship fund.

Style: Imperial IPA
Hops: Calypso, Citra, Crystal, Amarillo
Malts: Flaked Oats, Maris Otter, Victory

Availability: 22oz Bottles, Draft.
Release: April 2015

11% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Burnt Hickory Brewery, New Releases

Burnt Hickory Old Wooden Head Bottled

Burnt Hickory Old Wooden Head bottles have joined the brewery’s lineup as the month winds down. This is the imperial IPA’s first time in bottles.

John Bell Hood was called “Old Wooden Head” by his troops for his tenacity and hard headed-ness. Our ale is just that. Full of hops (how many? we donʼt know) Full of Malt (we shut a whole field down) this extreme gravity beer will not stop until you surrender to itʼs amazing flavor.

Burnt Hickory Old Wooden Head is a year-round offering by the Kennesaw, Georgia brewery. The bottle lineup (at time of this article) includes: Didjits, Fighting Bishop, Ezekiel’s Wheel, Cannon Dragger, and Big Shanty.

Style: Imperial IPA
Availability: 22oz Bottles, Draft.
Distribution: Georgia only
Release: March, 2015 (1st Bottles)

10% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Headlines, New Releases, SweetWater Brewing

SweetWater 420 Fest Double IPA Arrives in April

SweetWater Brewery’s (Atlanta, GA) next Dank Tank Series offering celebrates eleven years of their popular 420 fest.

SweetWater 420 Fest Double IPA features an 8% imperial IPA using lemon drop hops and a new experimental breed.

100% Marris Otter grain for clean, malty profile and brewed to yield a full body to balance the high hop bitterness. Hop flavors and aromas are grapefruit, lemon herbal, black currant, and mint. This Double IPA is a great citrusy beer for a warm weather fest!

The 2015 festival features headline acts like Snoop Dog, 311, and Primus, just to name a few. The brewery will sneak preview this beer at the brewery on March 26th, at 4:20 pm.

22oz bottles of SweetWater 420 Fest Double IPA will flow to the markets shortly after.

420 Fest tickets are on sale now, at 420Fest.com

Style: Imperial IPA
Hops: Lemon Drop, Exp. 052236
Malts: Marris Otter Pale Ale Malt

Availability: 22oz Bombers, Draft
Release: April, 2015

8% ABV

by Reid Ramsay