Simmering Down with Local Double IPAs

IPAs are amazing. They’re great by themselves or with food. You can argue about them with people who love them just as vehemently as with someone who hates them and they come in a wide variety of flavors and sub-styles. India Pale Ale has a loose interpretation as being a beer no less than 6.3% ABV (no idea what that is in our state government’s preferred ABW, but I also don’t know how warm or cold 35 degrees Celsius is, so there you go) and between 50 and 70 IBU, which is basically how bitter the beer tastes. Anyway, that’s an IPA, according to the most common style guidelines set up by bearded guys in overalls that know things.

Double IPA has no rules.

Double IPA can be super bitter, piney and resinous. It can be a juice bomb with tons of dry-hopping and alcohol. They can be 7.5% or 13.5% and anywhere in between. It doesn’t even have to say Double IPA on the label! Some of them say Imperial while others say Big IPA. Some just say IPA and others say Triple or Quadruple. Needless to say, I love Double IPA. 

There is currently a holy war brewing between two (2) Double IPAs: Squatters/Wasatch’s Hop Rising and Templin Family Brewing’s Ferda. I’m not here to get into which one is better; they both sell like crazy and I’m not trying to catch a stray here. I want to talk about the best of the rest made here in the Beehive state: 

Kiitos Brewing has a nice DIPA, aptly named Double IPA. At 8.5% ABV and it is a little on the light side, but it has huge hop flavors of citrus and pine with a nice absence of too many malty flavors to drag it down. 

Double Trub’l from Shades Brewing boasts big citrus flavors of grapefruit with a nice bitterness to finish it off. At 10% ABV, this beer has a lot of sweet, malt flavor and just a tad bit of heat to go with all those hops.

If you’re in the mood for a big juice bomb, Feelin’ Hazy from 2 Row Brewing is for you. It’s a Northeast (hazy) DIPA that brings the stone fruit and chunky tangerine flavors and, at a very stealthy 9% ABV, you won’t know what hit you after downing a couple of these crushable 12-oz bottles. 

Red Rock Brewery’s Elephino continues to be one of the secretly great beers in Utah. Citrusy and approachable at just 8% ABV, this beer pairs as perfectly with brunch as it does with dinner.

One of my favorite DIPA’s has been Hopulent from Epic Brewing. Epic’s brewmasters will switch hops up with the classic crackery malt backbone of the beer to keep us all guessing. Through all the changes, it’s always dry-hopped and hop-backed to maximize those amazing hop aromas. Try to find a version of this beer around 8–9% ABV and find those delicious hop flavors along with a killer nose. Now available in 12-oz cans!

Be twice as fun and twice as interesting by bringing a mixed sixer of DIPA to your next summer BBQ or picnic. Everyone will be twice as impressed with you (and you’ll be twice as funny).