Founders Double Trouble IPA

Brewed by Founders Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Grand Rapids, Michigan USA

12 oz bottle. Honey golden pour with a quarter inch of head that quickly fades. Mild citrus and herbal hops aroma with faint toasty malts. A rich, woody bitterness to the taste with a fair amount of caramelized sugars. The alcohol definitely makes its way through, but is not too heavy.

12oz bottle. Gold with a smaller white head. Fresh hoppy aroma with lots of grapefruit and pineapple notes. Looks good so far. The flavor is surprisingly dry, with lots of bitter grapefruit, some lighter pineapple, and a very light alcohol warmth. Not too heavy in the mouth with small and prickly bubbles. I’m digging the tropical and dry feel that this has.

Bottle courtesy SamGamgee. Pours hazy orange-goldenrod with a filmy white head. Literally smells like freshly poured grapefruit juice. I can’t pick out any other notes, just Welch’s grapefruit juice. Flavor is similar but with some orange juice notes too. Finish is slightly resinous and herbal, with only a modest tinge of bitterness. Dry on the palate with no trace of the big alcohol content.

This beer is absolutely my favorite IPA right now, if not my favorite beer. This stuff is liquid gold! The flavor is a wonderfully complex hopiness that is sure to please. Founders just showed up here in Richmond, and I couldn’t be happier with their beers.

THOUGHTS: Incredible label. The beer leaned a little to much to the hop side, but not unbearably so. Actually quite nice for being this hop heavy. It hid alcohol fairly well. Nice, but nothing too distinctive. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a hazy, dark yellow to light orange that was fairly light for a DIPA. It also had a small, off-white head that mostly diminished, but left excellent lacing. The aroma was light to moderate caramel malt; and moderate to heavy grapefruit hops, a little more orange hops, lighter resinous hops, a slight lemon hops. The initial flavor was fairly sweet, lightly acidic and slightly bitter; while the finish was very sweet and bitter with a long duration that was only average for the style. There was caramel malt and citrus hops (orange, lemon and grapefruit). The medium to full body was a little syrupy then sort of dry with fizzy carbonation and a lightly alcoholic and slightly metallic finish.

12 oz bottle. Pours a hazy gold with a large 2 finger frothy white head, lots of visible carbonation. Nice fresh floral and citrusy hop nose with some sweet pale and toasty malts. Very well balanced for a DIPA. The flavor is very hoppy without being overdone with bitterness, fairly thick bready malt base. Again, it’s just nicely balanced. A little warmth, but the alcohol isn’t overpowering either. Mouthfeel is fairly thick with just a bit of doughy clinginess on the finish. Soft gentle carbonation. Overall a pretty nice effort, one of my favorites from Founders.

I think this beer is OK...pours a little too pale for an IIPA...aroma is good, but the mouthfeel is severely lacking...........................................

Bottle. The appearance is definitely the weak point (kind of). It is a very weak yellow 9not even golden) color. BUT, the white fluffy head has great retention and leaves awesome lace. Crystal clear body. Aroma is great with citrus hops and a nice alt character to balance it. The flavor is just a quality. Nice doughy malt to balance the awesome citrusy resinous hops. Enough hops to please the biggest hophead, but not enough to shy the non-hophead away. Great balance. Sticky and resinous on the palate. Full medium body with minimal carbonation - just right. Overall: very solid IIPA.