Hopped up McGargagangbang Part 2: Double Bangin’

As a beer writer/blogger, we’re a priviledged lot. We get to have great conversations with brewers of our favorite beers, & very occasionally (as in the case of yours truly), we get given beer to try to give our honest feedback on. So, when Rye River Brewing kindly sent me bottles of their new beers being showcased this weekend at the AllTech Craft Beer & Food Fair in Dublin’s Convention Center, all I was told before hand was “Francis’ siblings were coming to party.” Oh my gawwwddd!!!!

Double Bangin IPA – 8.0% ABV

I make no bones about the following: Double IPA’s are my thing. I have on countless occasions ‘sessioned’ BrewDog’s Hardcore IPA & Stone’s Ruination. I love having a faceful of big, badass bold flavours with a substantial body to it. Sure, you could call it the highest form of opulent decadence, but I like to think of it as enjoying bloody good beer because it is bloody good beer.

I’ve whined in the past about Irish Double IPA’s quite alot. Most have been so shy of the mark for my liking, some are grossly over-rated & others calling them Double IPA’s is fucking laughable. Now, I realise a previous statement I’ve made on twitter is going to get thrown back in my face for this review;

When a DIPA is less than 8.5% ABV I start face palming. HARD. Repeatedly.

— HopAddiktion🍻 (@hopaddiktion) January 19, 2017

But then again, this is what it’s like inside of my head for the world of craft beer;

Although in saying that about DIPA's, in my 'own wee world', all stouts would be north of 11% ABV too, & lager would be 7%ABV + LMFAO

— HopAddiktion🍻 (@hopaddiktion) January 19, 2017

It is utterly facetious on my part. And recently, I had another DIPA brewed at Rye River by Alex for his Whiplash label, & it was ‘wonderfully enjoyable’. I like my DIPA’s to be big, chewy, Mjolnir-wielding-pissed-off-Thor, hoppy bastards of beers. I want to feel like each mouthful is an Indiana Jones moment weighing up recovering the idol in its excitement, fear & that moment of success after the beer has hit my pallete.

Double Bangin’ IPA when you crack open the bottle, a big neon sign should appear stating that the defcon status has gone from five straight to one. It is a nuclear fallout of hops straight away & in the glass, it is full on brace for impact. The head on this is just a thing of beauty as it sits there atop the beer like a tyrant daring you to push your launch button in response to his provocations. And as for that first mouthful?

The bitterness in this is like being hit with the mother of all Stone Cold Stunners on the back end & it will make your eyes water in the most fantastic way possible. It makes you want to dive back in for another hit & to take in all of that grapefruit/pineapple/fuck-you-I-won’t-do-what-you-tell-me goodness, hitting that spot like a total G.

The fruitiness of the beer even with that hellacious back-end palette-stunning bitter shines through as you get into it more. And once the hum of the bitter goes, the fruits are there on your tongue, & you want to go in for even more like a sadist.

THIS is what I want my double IPA’s to do. To entrance me. To dare me. To want to get into a fist-fight with me purely for funsies & to enjoy a beer afterwards, cos hell ain’t nothing like friends in a bar fighting & enjoying a beer. This beer is deeply satisfying on so so so many levels its not even funny. If they made this permament, I’d probably never miss Hardcore IPA or buy Stone’s Ruination again as it ticks every box I’d want from a DIPA in the west-coast style I love.