Speakeasy Double Daddy IPA

Brewed by Speakeasy Ales and Lagers
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
San Francisco, California USA

2/3/08 From the bottle. Aroma is sweet, but very grassy, almost spicy. The harshness subsides after a few minutes and a light caramel emerges to balance; it’s not perfect, but typical for style. Appearance is a very faintly hazy gold with a well maintained off-white head with good lacing. Flavor has a good bit of everything, from grass to earth to residual sugars to a good peppery bite, all in good balance with each other. Like the aroma, give this taste a few minutes to even out and open up, you’ll be well rewarded with a lessening harshness and increased harmony that goes from totally clashing to fairly pairable should you try this with food. Mouthfeel has a lot of texture, one of the few beers where you can feel the hop spiciness on your tongue, and the texture stays very even through the finish, which stays with you but doesn’t kill the palate. Overall, a very drinkable Imperial IPA that doesn’t rely solely on high IBUs and the taste of dirt in you mouth to make its point.

Cloudy orange color and produces a creamy layer of head that retreats quickly. A pleasant spicy, citrus hop aroma dominates and show enough sweetness to demonstrate the sturdy malt body that makes up the background to the hoppy flavor. This is a very nicely balanced DIPA, with nothing over doing it. The flavor lingers well without a sticky mouth residue making you anticipate the next pleasant sip.

Bottle at Thrash Zone, Yokohama. Golden with a fluffy white head. Strong aroma of citrus, grapefruit, and caramel malts. Full bodied. Intense hops in the flavor. Grapefruit, citrus, some lemon, and a caramel malt backbone. Some light fruit, as well. Finish is long and really bitter. Really enjoyed this DIPA, will have again.

12 oz bottle purchased from Ocean Wine and Spirits. Okay so I bought this from the discount bin so I expected it to be old but I have had some old IPAs and DIPAs that still were tasty. This one wasn’t. Poured a good enough looking slightly hazy mostly orange/amber with a good looking foamy off white head. Aroma of caramel malt with slightly fruity notes. Thin bodied with lots of alcohol warming and a watery mouthfeel. Flavor has ZERO hop flavor left and is mostly a malt alcohol mesh. This one might have some nice potential with a fresh bottle.

Pours a golden orange with a relatively average white head, loose bubbles with some thin film. The nose is big with the hops. Nothing distinct, just good old country hard ball, heavy and dirty hops. Solid malt support. Largely piney resin, less of the fruity hops, though maybe some grapefruit enters in. A grainy toasty bit i nthe background too. Slick mouthfeel, a bit viscous, rather smooth, not bad. The flavors let down a little bit though. Bitter with big malt... but a IIPA takes a bit more than that... in my opinion. First, there’s a medicinal flavor I don’t much care for, and then those hops are just pure pine. It’s all strung out on booze too, only making this resemble some sort of chemical cleaner more than medicine. A bit soapy too with the hops. Big caramel, a bit toasty. The bitterness is big. The alcohol heat is heavy. This isn’t a bad beer... but it also isn’t a great IIPA. I prefered their IPA, despite my sweet tooth. As it warms though, it seems to become some sort of hop/pine liquor... and much more bearable.

The aroma was light and citrusy with hints of pine and grapefruits. The beer poured a clear golden bronze color with nice head and thin lacing. The flavor was piney and citrusy with notes of caramel malts. The mouthfeel was good and bitter with good carbonation and a wet texture. tasty.

Ouch...Now that’s a good beer. Copper gold with an aroma that makes you look around for pine trees. Smooth swallow with a sharp pine/citrus bite. Very refreshing!

Bottle from Park Lane Liquor in Lancaster, CA. This beer pours a nearly opaque copper/gold color with a medium and fluffy ivory head that diminishes steadily. Small patches of lacing on the glass. Resiny hops and fruit in the nose. Rich body with an initially sweet malt/toffee character, followed by flavors of fresh hops, citrus and grass. The finish is soft and sweet with toffee and butterscotch, and leaves a lingering hoppy aftertaste. The ABV is well-masked throughout. Overall this is a pretty good IIPA.