2XIPA
12 oz bottle to oversized wine glass. $3.50. The 2XIPA made a lot of noise on the boards here which prompted me to immediately seek this brew out. First beer of the day. Review from a backlog of notes. A: Pours with 1 1/2 fingers of long lasting white head. Verrrry light sun-struck amber orange in color. The body is clear with visual carbonation akin to angrily swarming bees. A nice amount of lacing is deposited on the glass. S & T: The nose is UNCOMMONLY weak. The flavor as well. While there is no problem with the flavor profile per se, the lack of intensity here is astounding and ratings suffer as a result. How could my palate possibly mistake a "DIPA" at 8.2% ABV for an APA at 5? Thanks to Southern Tier, I now know. Light malts of caramel and biscuit with a nice squeeze of grapefruit, orange and pineapple juice. A light sweetness dials back the bitterness on the palate. M: Medium to medium-full body and as creamy as it gets. Visually, the carbonation seems relentless. On the tongue, however, it couldn't be any softer, which in my mind, is a huge detriment. Back to the pros: the flavor duration is very long and it finishes well: crisply, cleany, semi dry and moderately bitter. D: The style applied to this brew is throwing me for a loop. This would be a top notch pale ale (if it were one) but it loses a huge amount of points when judged as a DIPA. In fact, I followed this brew with an APA (something I would never normally do, BUT was more impressed with by the way) and realized that Southern Tier made a silly typo: They simply forgot to put a "1/" in front of the "2XIPA". Despite everything negative I've said so far, the drinkability is actually pretty high. In fact, I could drink about 450 of these things in one sitting. Clearly, the ABV is another misprint. Unfortunately, because of the cost, I won't even be buying a six pack. I guess I'll have to give this one another try next time I see it on draft.