Beer Style: Double IPA
Foundation Brewing Company: Epiphany clone
Foundation Head Brewer and Co-Owner Joel Mahaffey says, “The characteristics that I feel are the hallmarks of a Maine IPA are a soft body, modest but solid malt backbone, low bitterness (but sufficient to avoid cloying sweetness), and a dominating hop flavor and aroma profile. Characteristics should lean towards fruit, be it citrus or tropical, but notes of pine and resin are also perfectly acceptable.”
Hair of the Dog Brewing Company: Blue Dot Double IPA clone
Named for plant Earth and brewed in honor of Earth Day, this double IPA is brewed at the brewery with organic malts and a combo of intese hops. It features lots of herbal, floral, citrus, grapefruit, raw honey, and fresh mint hop aromas.
Rogue Ales: Imperial Pale Ale (I2PA) clone
Part of Rogue Ale’s XS series of beers, their I2PA features an intense hopping regiment and is aged for 9 months before leaving the brewery.
Russian River Brewing Co.’s Pliny the Elder clone
Originally brewed to be part of a first-ever “Double IPA festival” back in 2000, Pliny has become the standard by which many modern double IPAs are measured. As with any hop-heavy beer, Pliny is best enjoyed fresh, while the massive hop aroma is at its peak.
Three Floyds Brewing Company: Dreadnaught clone
This unforgettable imperial IPA features an intense citrus hop aroma and a huge malt body.
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery: 90-Minute IPA clone
90 Minute IPA was the first beer that Dogfish Head brewed using their continuous hopping technique of adding hops throughout the boil. Esquire magazine has called it “perhaps the best IPA in America.”
Left Hand Brewery’s Twin Sisters (Double IPA) clone
A big, chewy, resiny, hop extravaganza. Not a brew for the feint of heart.
Imperial/Double IPA
by the numbers OG: 1.070–1.090 (17–21.6 °P) FG: 1.010–1.020 (2.6–5.1 °P) SRM: 8–15 IBU: 60–120 ABV: 7.5–10% Like many people, when I was new to craft beer I favored beers with a
Hop Hammer
Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River Brewing Company in Santa Rosa, California brews what is arguably the world’s best example of this style, Pliny the Elder. Despite the huge hop levels and higher alcohol strength, it is superbly drinkable. Vinnie very generously shared his recipe with the brewing community and just about everyone interested in this style has seen his recipe. The recipe inside, while a little bigger in starting gravity than Vinnie’s, is a descendant of his original.
New England IPA
Gordon Strong takes a deep breath and comes up with a hazy, hoppy, New England-style IPA
Stone Ruination IPA (1.0) clone
This recipe is for the original formulation of Ruination, a West Coast IPA that defined the style with resinous pine, a big malt backbone, and a lovely orange amber color.
Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA clone
Sierra Nevada designed this beer to showcase their innovative “hop torpedo,” which is a dry hopping device that controls how much hop aroma is imparted into the beer without adding additional bitterness. This beer features a big citrus, pine, and tropical fruit hop profile.
