Oskar Blues Deviant Dale's India Pale Ale

Posted by: Tyler Rippeteau

Aug. 26, 2012

A beautiful case of Deviant Dale's

For a variety of reasons, this review of Oskar Blues Deviant Dale’s India Pale Ale is bound to be one of the most exciting I have ever done.  For starters, I am reviewing this beer on a train, hurtling across the great State of Nebraska at about 70 MPH in the middle of the night.  More importantly, though, I am reviewing this beer as a part of Reddit’s new beer blogging community’s (r/beerblogs) first ever community-wide review.  Check out everyone else’s reviews here.  So as we take a break from both The Avery Project and The Barleywine Project here at 20 Beers in 20 Nights, enjoy this review of a beer that is becoming a bit of an instant classic out here in Colorado. 

Deviant Dale’s has long been a favorite at the brewery in Lyons, CO.  Until earlier this year, however, it was not available outside the taproom.  So only those who could venture up into the tiny town outside of Boulder could taste this delicious brew.  Enter the new canning line at Oskar Blues (Longmont), one capable of producing tallboys at exceptionally high speeds, and bam!  We now have Deviant available just about everywhere Oskar Blues distributes.  Here are some stats:

Location: Somewhere near the Colorado/Nebraska border, on a train

Cost: $12.99/4-pack of tallboys

ABV: 8%

IBUs: 85

Brewery Location: Longmont, Colorado

Style: American IPA

Average Beer Advocate Rating: B+/3.99

My Beer Advocate Rating: A-/4.05

Current Number of Reviews on Beer Advocate: 381

Description: Oskar Blues Deviant Dale’s India Pale Ale

Glassware: Plain Pint Glass

Bottled On: NA

APPEARANCE:  (4 out of 5) A fairly strong pour into a pint glass reveals a nice, deep amber color with a generous off-white head.  The retention isn’t bad and the head seems to settle in for a little while after about half of it has evaporated.  At first the lacing is fairly thin and cathedral-like, but after pouring the remaining 4 ounces into my glass, it becomes much thicker, almost caked on.

SMELL:  (4 out of 5) Big pine and grapefruit aromas greet the nose with a hint of some woodiness.  The Deviant does not have a terribly complex smell, but it is strong, solid, appetizing and straight forward – typical for a big IPA like this.

TASTE:  (4 out of 5) Up front, the Deviant has a big dose of sweet caramel and toffee-flavored malt, along with a faint hint of chocolate.  Those malts vanish quickly, though, as a very strong hop flavor takes over.  At first the hops provide a piney and slightly weedy resinous taste, but towards the end of the sip they put forth a full-on lemon and grapefruit assault.  The switch from big malt to big hops really makes the hop bite seem much more pronounced than in other IPAs. 

MOUTHFEEL:  (4.5 out of 5) As you may have gathered from the previous paragraph, this beer starts out sweet and finishes very dry.  The hop bite at the end makes the middle part of the tongue feel almost raw, but the good news is that there is just enough malt in each new sip to repair it.  It flirts with the extreme, but never goes over the edge.  There is a mild boozy heat from the 8% ABV, but it only becomes noticeable as the beer warms.

OVERALL:  (4 out of 5) This beer is delicious as always.  I first tried this beer back before I moved to Colorado.  I was in Lyons specifically to go to the original Oskar Blues location.  In my initial review on Beer Advocate I noted that the malt up front was much sweeter and maybe even contained a hint of honey.  I didn’t get that honey this time and the malt does not seem to be as intense as it was back then.  Also, the hops seem a lot more aggressive, but either way, this is still a strong beer from a great Colorado brewery.