IPAs run the gambit from weak to over the top 25% ABV hop bombs with enough IBUs to take the rust off an old bike chain. Every now and then you want an easier drinking, flavorful IPA that will allow you to still drive home safely after consuming. Not a full session beer, but something a bit slower speed. Hoping to answer this need is the All Occasions IPA from Evil Twin Brewing out of Denmark, a 8% ABV IPA billed as a “no BS” beer.
I made another trip out to Albuquerque New Mexico not only to visit family, but to try and find some beers I can not get back East. One of the beers I picked up comes from Epic Brewing Company in New Zealand. Their Armageddon, an American IPA, can hopefully live up to bold giant red letters on the label and creepy 6.66% ABV.
I’m not one to turn down a new (to me) IPA, especially if that IPA comes from a local brewery. The Northern Lights comes from Starr Hill based out of Charlottesville, VA. Being a fan of their beers I had to pick up a six-pack of the Northern Lights as soon as I saw it.
If there’s another Double IPA to live up to what we experienced with Citra from Kern River, it would be another beer by the same guys! Their 5th Anniversary Ale is a Double IPA, and depending upon who you ask, is as good or better than Citra. From Kernville, CA this 8% ABV Double IPA exemplifies the same “west coast” IPA qualities as Citra: citrusy, juicy and equally bitter.
Sierra Nevada, being one of the originators of the craft beer movement, could just sit back and let their already impressive lineup of beers pull them along. But that is not the craft beer, or Sierra Nevada, way of doing things. For 2012 they have a new beer for the Spring, the Ruthless Rye IPA. Brewed using rye, pale, caramel, and chocolate malts with chinook and bravo hops, this promises to be in interesting and complex beer.
