Double Simcoe IPA
Review Date 5/12/2009
Try?
Re-buy?
You might be
surprised at just how complicated making a beer can be. Most beers, after
all, are made from a blend of malts, a collection of hops, and sometimes, a
variety of yeast strains. Each add their own distinct fingerprint to the
finished product, and quite often the whole becomes greater than the sum of
the parts.
Sometimes, though, a brewer might want to experiment and showcase what can be done with less. That's just what Easton, Pennsylvania's Weyerbach brewery did with their Double Simcoe IPA. Double Simcoe is a single hop brew, meaning only the Simcoe variety is used to make the beer. And as the name implies, it's also a "double" IPA, meaning very generous doses of those Simcoes.
The Simcoe hop is a hybrid, and a decidedly new one at that. Simcoes have only been around since the turn of the century, and are sort of an "uber-Cascade" prized for high alpha-acid content (read: bitterness). As we'll soon see, they do "double" duty here, and to very good effect.
Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA pours to a hazy orange amber color with
a very thick and rocky head formation and a vibrant, attention-grabbing nose
of bright resiny pine. A thick layer of Brussels lace clings to the sides of
my glass and follows the liquid all the way to the bottom. I have to take
another sniff of that wonderfully heady hop aroma before I sip, and when I
do, I just can't resist sipping any longer. And so I do.
Ah. What a delight this one is, a pure hop lover's dream. Simcoes are used mainly as bittering hops, meaning they are added early on in the boil to add, well, bitterness. Here they certainly do that, as we'll see in a moment, but they're also added late in the boil to add flavor and aroma. Sure enough, they're pretty good at that too, adding sticky notes of resiny, herbal pine laced with a touch of citrus. Double Simcoe is a pretty big beer in body, too, with lots of chewy caramel malt.
And really, it has to be to keep up with all the hops going on. That can be a treacherous path to follow, because some "imperial" or "double" IPAs throw so much malt in to balance off some of the hops that they start to really seem more like barleywines. And while Double Simcoe is close to that style in strength at 9% alcohol by volume, I'll give it kudos for still maintaining a good IPA "feel". The hops definitely dominate the malt, permeating the beer and infusing it with a special life-force only they can provide.
The bitterness is most apparent in the finish. It's big, long-lasting, and incredibly drying. That's a result of the early addition we mentioned earlier. This is really a fantastic beer, a hophead's delight, and one I can heartily recommend. The more I sip it, the more I like it, and if you love hops as much as I do, you certainly will too.
Sometimes, though, a brewer might want to experiment and showcase what can be done with less. That's just what Easton, Pennsylvania's Weyerbach brewery did with their Double Simcoe IPA. Double Simcoe is a single hop brew, meaning only the Simcoe variety is used to make the beer. And as the name implies, it's also a "double" IPA, meaning very generous doses of those Simcoes.
The Simcoe hop is a hybrid, and a decidedly new one at that. Simcoes have only been around since the turn of the century, and are sort of an "uber-Cascade" prized for high alpha-acid content (read: bitterness). As we'll soon see, they do "double" duty here, and to very good effect.
Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA pours to a hazy orange amber color with
a very thick and rocky head formation and a vibrant, attention-grabbing nose
of bright resiny pine. A thick layer of Brussels lace clings to the sides of
my glass and follows the liquid all the way to the bottom. I have to take
another sniff of that wonderfully heady hop aroma before I sip, and when I
do, I just can't resist sipping any longer. And so I do.Ah. What a delight this one is, a pure hop lover's dream. Simcoes are used mainly as bittering hops, meaning they are added early on in the boil to add, well, bitterness. Here they certainly do that, as we'll see in a moment, but they're also added late in the boil to add flavor and aroma. Sure enough, they're pretty good at that too, adding sticky notes of resiny, herbal pine laced with a touch of citrus. Double Simcoe is a pretty big beer in body, too, with lots of chewy caramel malt.
And really, it has to be to keep up with all the hops going on. That can be a treacherous path to follow, because some "imperial" or "double" IPAs throw so much malt in to balance off some of the hops that they start to really seem more like barleywines. And while Double Simcoe is close to that style in strength at 9% alcohol by volume, I'll give it kudos for still maintaining a good IPA "feel". The hops definitely dominate the malt, permeating the beer and infusing it with a special life-force only they can provide.
The bitterness is most apparent in the finish. It's big, long-lasting, and incredibly drying. That's a result of the early addition we mentioned earlier. This is really a fantastic beer, a hophead's delight, and one I can heartily recommend. The more I sip it, the more I like it, and if you love hops as much as I do, you certainly will too.
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
(G)=Growler
