Welcome, my friends, to the story of Jailhouse 4D IPA. As we shall see, this is an evolving story, since Jailhouse 4D (Deep, Deep, Deep, Deep Undercover) IPA is a beer that is constantly changing. Sadly, I missed the first three editions of this draft only beer, but was lucky enough to catch volume 4, an India Dark Ale, at, Taco Mac in Canton. Then I missed the next 7, managed to catch volume 12, never saw the next two, but tonight I am enjoying volume 15.

Jailhouse Deep, Deep, Deep, Deep Undercover IPA Volume 15 is styled as a Rye IPA. This one has a name, too: “Trading Places.” oddly enough. It was tasty enough, with a milder alcohol content of 6% by volume and reasonably priced at $5.50 for the full mug pour.

Jailhouse says of their Deep, Deep, Deep, Deep Undercover IPA Volume 15:

We’re diggin’ the trend of the lighter hopped IPAs coming out so v.15 of the 4D follows in those footsteps. Visually the beer looks much lighter in flavor so it is somewhat deceiving when it gives you a nice little hop tap to the palate. We called it Trading Places keeping with the 80’s pop culture theme and the concept of the hoppier taste Trading Places with the lighter colored beer. Plus, we just love that movie.

Light sunshiny yellow with just a tint of orange, Trading Places will signal your taste buds that you’re in for a lighter bodied pounder. Aromatically you are warned there is more to this beer. Bright citrus orange blends with fleshy stone fruit such as peach and mango. In the distance is a hint of muscadine. On the palate you instantly realize this is no palate washer. Bitterness makes way for the spicy rye note all wrapped up in a medium bodied blast of hop goodness.I say:

Grain - Pilsener; Rye

Hops - Warrior; El Dorado; Sorachi Ace

Yeast - Denny’s Favorite

IBU - 50 calculated

And here’s what I thought:

My mug of Jailhouse Deep, Deep, Deep, Deep Undercover IPA Volume 15 (Trading Places) arrived a surprisingly pale yellow-golden color with a moderate bubbly head formation. Taking a whiff, I got some soft citrus fruit hops in the nose, with light chewy malt up front, decided citrusy lemon and passion fruit notes, soft fruity hops in the finish, just a hint of spicy rye and a sharp bitter hop finish especially as the beer warms. Sorachi Ace hops are renowned for their lemony character, and I get that here, though not as much as in, say, Brooklyn Sorachi Ace.

This was a nice lighter bodied IPA, I think, but could have used a dash more rye for my tastes. The lighter malts allowed the hops to show more forcefully, and that allowed the beer to wash down my spicy hot wings quite nicely indeed.

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