Review - Dogfish Head Brewery's Squall IPA
"An unfiltered, 100% bottle-conditioned, super-pungent imperial I.P.A. clocking in at 9% ABV and dry-hopped with Palisade, Amarillo, Simcoe, Cascade, CTZ, and Willamette hops. The beer will come out in June of 2009 in a handful of eastern seaboard states. It will only be packaged in 750ml champagne bottles. Seek it out... and hoard it from the non-believers." -- Dogfish Head Brewery
Pours a cloudy medium amber color that settles a slightly darker shade with brilliant clarity. Head is full and rich with a white frothy consistency with excellent retention, providing sticky and thick rings of lacing. The head has almost completely dissipated, and the body is almost completely still. The initial light hop aroma was difficult to detect through the large head. After it mellowed out, a very complex aroma emerged. It was a little florally, a little grassy, and a little bit musky. It generated a lot of curiosity. Initial taste is very complex with a malt forward character that has a myriad of hop flavor behind it. Finish reveals some alcohol warmth with a diverse hop profile with enough malts to keep it from being harsh. As it easily glides down your throat, the smooth creamy body coats your mouth with a soft oily film. Softly carbonated, your palate bounces around like a pop corn kernel in the microwave. The warming alcohol does not overpower the taste. Initially smooth, the softly harsh finish adds to the complexity of this beer.
Comparing this to the straight 90-Minute IPA, this has much less malt character. The hop profile is completely different as well, where this is dry-hopped with six different hops, each imparting their own unique characteristics. Alcohol warmth is a bit more intense than the 90-Minute, but overall this beer has slightly higher drinkability.
Reviewed on June 13th, 2009.
