Ninkasi Tricerahops Double IPA

Brewed by Ninkasi Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Eugene, Oregon USA

For not having been around long, Ninkasi brews a great beer and knows how to work with hops. If I recall correctly, the brewer used to be at Steelhead Brewing, and I think he has one-upped his former employer, at least. The Tricerahops, besides having a killer name, is quickly becoming one of my standard IIPAs. I tried it on cask at the Horse Brass in Portland recently, and it proved itself worthy, for sure. If you see it on cask, don’t pass it by.

22 oz bottle. Pours a slightly hazy orangish gold with a tight bubbled beige head that left some heavy lacing. The hops on the nose are a bit muted, floral with a bit of citrus sneaking in, and there’s a bit of caramel and crystal maltiness. The hops seen to be pretty muted on the flavor as well. Fairly bitter with some pithy citrus rind, there’s no brightness to this at all. The malt base is fairly thin for being 9%, I’m actually pretty surprised that this is that big. Mostly comes across as light caramel and a bit of a crystal malt stale iced tea quality. Finishes fairy thin in body with a weakly bitter leafy hop note. Fairly active fizzy carbonation. Not too big of a fan of this one. Their regular IPA was much better than this and I had higher expectations.

22oz Bottle. Ugly cheesy isovaleric aged hop aroma. A little piney, but mostly old. Not enticing. Pours a coppery amber, with a rim in white. The flavor is about the same. The isovaleric fades away and there’s some light honey sugars and a bit of caramel. Really though, this washes away into thinness. Not enough hop complexity or flavor for this to be interesting. It kind of comes across as a thin double Bitter. Soapy and alcoholic. Fairly mediocre for the style.

Cloudy orange with a thin white head. Floral hop aroma. Strong malt taste up front, followed by more floral hops and a bitter/fruity finish.

On tap at Henry’s in Portland. Amberish in color, although the lighting in the place made it hard to discern. Aroma of mesquite/wood/earth, citrus, herbs and flowers. Flavor was much of the same; extremely earthy. A good amount of hoppiness in there. Enjoyable.

Bottle thanks to OldMrCrow. Poured a nice orange with white head. Aroma was floral hops, and malt. Taste was a little malty but i think this bottle had some age to it. Smooth easy to drink.

Smells intensely of fresh hop flowers. Bit of foam at the top, but not much head to speak of. Obvious hop taste, but without the ridiculous bitterness you get in some Double IPAs. Drinks smoothly with some maltiness. Up there as one of my favorite IPAs. So far so good from Ninkasi.

Bottle shared by wolf-man! Red/orange color, decent head that faded away quickly. Nice aroma of light floral hops. Taste is malty...but not in a bad way. Its lost its hop bite. This bottle must have some age on it. Kind of sugary in the after taste.Smooth and easy to drink. Nice DIPA. Overall I enjoyed sipping on this beer but wouldnt go out of my way to have it again. Probably alot better when it was fresh...