This beer even tastes American

Just as the stereotypical American wine is a massive, heavily oaked fruit bomb, so are American craft beers sometimes regarded as less-than-delicate one-note wonders.

There’s a tiny grain of truth that gives rise to the myth. In this case, that grain would be the style known as Imperial India Pale Ale.

The so-called double IPA is a bigger, brasher (dare we say more American) version of the bitter style made popular during the Raj.

Expat civil servants and troops looking for a taste of home in 19thcentury India got it in the form of pale ale shipped from England; brewers eventually discovered that beers with higher levels of alcohol and hops survived the sea voyage.

Fast-forward to the mid-1990s when some American craft brewers began adding enough hops to their IPAS that they became different beasts altogether. The resulting style spread from its California base across the U.S., eventually hitting Western New York’s Southern Tier Brewing Company, where founder Phin Demink produces a double IPA known as Unearthly.

The beer, referred to on its label as “An uninhibited infusion of hops,” is the bigger, boozier, more bitter cousin of Southern Tier’s standard IPA, says Demink.

“It’s pretty much the same ingredients as our regular IPA, just more of everything.”

The result is a wonderfully aromatic brew. There’s a scent of grapefruit peel, pine and a hint of caramel. Those notes are all there in the flavour too, along with a bracingly-bitter finish and some boozy heat (it’s 9.5 per cent alcohol).

There’s no doubt hops are the star of the show. Standard commercial lagers check in at about 12 International Bitterness Units, pilsners can be around 40, and IPAS usually hover around 60. With Unearthly, it’s over 80. (Demink is quick to note that unlike some other brewers, he measures his bitterness in a lab.)

It’s a beer that can be a little too assertive for some, including many brewers and drinkers in England, the country which created the original IPA style.

But pushing boundaries is one of the joys of American craft brewers, says Demink, adding that it’s something the English beer world should get used to. josh@thestar.ca