Oh, Westbrook Brewing of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. You just had to dare me, didn’t you? I know you were intentionally taunting me, yes me, when you advised in large print on the label of Shane’s Big DIPA:
KEEP RERIGERATED AND DRINK FRESH-DO NOT AGE THIS BEER!
The caps, folks, are courtesy of Westbrook, not me. Just so you know. So anyway, I did take their advice on the first part and kept my bottle of Shane’s Big DIPA refrigerated. It was the “drink fresh” bit I disobeyed. After all, just what is “fresh” for a double India Pale Ale?
Consider: my 22-ounce bomber bottle of Shane’s Big DIPA was bottled on 3/31/2015. I drank it in mid-August, so the beer was about four and a half months old when I enjoyed it. Now, I don’t consider that aged at all as a DIPA, properly stored, should easily last for a year. I get the sense, though, that Westbrook probably wants you to drink the beer within 60 days of bottling (just a suspicion).
Westbrook says of Shane’s Big DIPA on the label:
A monstrously big and hoppy Double IPA. The recipe for this beer was developed by Brewer Shane Cummings. F**kin’ A!
Westbrook Shane’s Big DIPA has an alcohol content of 9% by volume with 80 IBUs. I paid $8.99 for a bottle, not all that bad these days.
Westbrook Shane’s Big DIPA pours to a bright orange amber color with a light creamy head of foam and a very earthy, herbal leafy hop nose. Taking a sip, the beer has a medium caramel malt character up front followed by juicy bitter orange rind notes, tea like earthy aromas and flavors and a long, very dry and very bitter finish. I just love the huge hops here, bitter and earthy and leafy and beautiful. Different than anything I’ve had before. In many ways, this reminded me of an old English IPA on steroids.
Another winner from Westbrook my friends, and if you see this, or really any of their beers, by all means buy them.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft