Review #6 - Weyerbacher's Double Simcoe IPA

Posted by: Stonecipher

Feb. 26, 2011

Finally!  The Weyerbacher’s Double Simcoe IPA is here!  Not all of it, but most of it. 

After a bunch of setbacks and two separate incidents in two different states resulting in bottles being broken, two of the four in the 4-pack arrived safely here at 20 Beers in 20 Nights World Headquarters in Evanston, IL.

So, as I embark on my first ever home brewing journey this afternoon I thought I would spend some of the downtime I have writing the Double Simcoe review.

Also, a special thanks to ‘nevins’ over at Beer Advocate for getting these bottles to me, this is the first beer on The List acquired by trade and I’m very excited.  First, as usual though, some quick facts about the beer:

ABV: 9%

IBUs: 153

Brewery Location: Easton, Pennsylvania

Style: American Double IPA

Average Beer Advocate Rating: A-/4.13 – Excellent

My Beer Advocate Rating: A-/4.2 - Excellent

Current Number of Reviews/Rank in the Top 20 on Beer Advocate: 1,009/12^th

Brewery Description: Weyerbacher’s Double Simcoe IPA

Bottled On: NA

APPEARANCE:  (3.5 out of 5) The Weyerbacher’s Double Simcoe IPA pours a nice, deep, reddish-brown that is cloudy and opaque.  A bubbly and very clean three-quarter inch head rests on top of the snifter housing the contents of the 12 oz. bottle it was poured from.  Retention on the head is not impressive and what little lacing was apparent early on in the glass slid away by the end. 

SMELL:  (4.0 out of 5) There has been some debate as to what type of aroma Simcoe hops produce, some have said fruity, others woody, and still more have said piney.  To me, however, there is no doubt about it; the aroma is heavily piney and very enticing.  A touch of orange and other citrus smells makes its way into the nose here, but the pine is in charge.  This is a good smelling beer and would have been a higher rating if it was a little more intense.

TASTE:  (4.5 out of 5) In terms of flavor, Simcoe hops are known for their bitter qualities and Weyerbacher’s certainly made sure that this 100% Simcoe hopped brew did not disappoint on that front.  This a beautifully balanced beer with just enough malt to make it go down smooth, but not so much that it takes away at all from the bitterness.  In addition to the malty hoppiness, the Double Simcoe also provides a hint of grapefruit in the citrus department; the orange from the nose is completely obliterated by the flavor, but the orange first, grapefruit second makes for a delicious combo.  This is a bitter beer, but it is not harsh at all and that makes it very accessible to those who may not be huge hop heads. 

MOUTHFEEL:  (3.0 out of 5) The Double Simcoe is smooth and a bit oily, which I am generally not a huge fan of, but the oily feel actually works to make this beer go down a bit easier.  Still, I prefer more sparkle in my beer and while the feel is not bad at all, it is somewhat of a let down.

OVERALL:  (4.5 out of 5) Considering that all 153 IBUs are very apparent in this beer it is an incredibly easy beer to drink.  While some Double IPAs, like Bell’s Hopslam are good for introducing beginners to the style, this might be more of an intermediate beer, for someone who is starting to develop a palate, but isn’t quite sure how much bitter they can handle.  A highly drinkable, bitter DIPA is not always easy to find, but the Double Simcoe nailed it for me.

DRAWBACKS:  In the two most important categories, taste and smell, the Double Simcoe IPA gets very high marks.  I was disappointed in the appearance and feel, however.  Although I already acknowledged that oily and less carbonated feel helped this beer go down easier, I don’t mind the slighter greater challenge to the palate that comes with some extra sparkle.  Additionally, the lack of head retention and lacing was a disappointment.  It may seem like a little thing, but seeing those rings and arches around the glass as the beer slowly disappears is a thing of beauty and excitement for a craft beer drinker and that was missed in this experience.

SOUND:  Pretention Alert!  Yep, as always in the sound category, my snooty taste in beer meets my snooty taste in music – and The Double Simcoe reminded me of one of my favorite groups for a very specific reason.  Jurassic 5 is an underground hip-hop group from Southern California (As a side note, one of their MCs, the very friendly Chali Tuna, is originally from Chicago) that has had more commercial success than many other groups of their ilk.  J5 has had their videos played on MTV, they’ve collaborated with Dave Matthews and both their 3^rd and 4^th albums, “Power in Numbers” and “Feedback” made it to the #15 spot on Billboard’s Top 200.

The point is, Jurassic 5 produces some very high quality hip-hop, but they have also had a good deal of success in mainstream pop/rap circles.  So they end up being the one good, underground hip-hop group that people with mediocre to bad taste actually enjoy.  The Double Simcoe IPA struck me as the type of beer that someone who thinks Harp and Bass are the epitome of fine beer would be able to tolerate and even brag to their friends about liking.  In other words, someone could slip this into their line-up, not fully explain what it was and they would end up inadvertently becoming craft beer advocates. 

In that same respect, I have met dozens of people who treated Jurassic 5 that way, in particular, the title track from their 2000 album “Quality Control”.  In case you have missed it for the past 11 years, check it out on iTunes here: 

The Mystery of the Missing Burton Baton – A Short (and True) Story About the Three Beers I Didn’t Get to Drink this Week.

Posted by: Stonecipher

Feb. 18, 2011

It has been a tough week here at 20 Beers in 20 Nights.  If all had gone well, we would have had three more of the Top 20 DIPAs reviewed and checked off the list, bringing us close to the halfway point.  Instead, the beer universe was against us and we are still stuck at #5.

I’ll begin with the worst news of all – the beer that went MIA and is now presumed dead.  As some of you may have read, we were in Nashville, TN over the past weekend.  While we were there we actually began the trip with a bit of good beer luck when we found some Oskar Blues Gordon Ale, one of the Top 20 that is not readily available here in Illinois.  That, however, is where our luck ended. 

When we got back from the bar that night we decided to throw the one bottle of beer that we had brought with us in the hotel room’s refrigerator.  That bottle was a Dogfish Head Burton Baton, which comes in at #11 on The List with 1,176 reviews.  The plan was to take advantage of some of the downtime I was hoping to have to review it and cross it off the list.  Unfortunately, I never ended up having too much downtime in the hotel room.  So, I never got around to it.

When we arrived back in Evanston on Monday, I asked my girlfriend where the beer was.  She thought it was in one of our bags.  Turns out it wasn’t.  I thought maybe I had left it in her refrigerator.  Turns out I had not.  Then she suggested maybe it was in my fridge.  Nope.  The trunk of the car?  No dice.  Was it rolling around in the back seat?  Negative.  We could just not figure out where it had vanished to. 

Finally, last night, while sitting at one of our local hangouts and sampling a few of Goose Island’s high-end sours, it hit me.  I turned to my girlfriend and said “I know where the beer is.”

“Where!?!” She replied.

“It’s in the hotel fridge.” 

And with that, the mystery of the missing Burton Baton was solved.

Of course, the Burton Baton would have been Beer #6 on The List, but what about the other two, #7 and #8?  Well, number seven, was supposed to have been the Weyerbacher Double Simcoe.  Many of you read about that last week.  Due to some minor technical difficulties, however, it looks like the Double Simcoe may not arrive until sometime this weekend… if I am lucky.  By the way, none of this was the fault of my trading partner; it was the middle man who totally dropped the ball on this one.  Said middle man has promised to straighten things out quickly, but we shall see.  Hopefully, there is a swift and happy conclusion to this story.

As for number eight, well, this one was simply a case of false advertising.  OK, maybe not false, but at the very least it was lazy advertising. 

Two nights ago, we planned to take my mother and my aunt to see Les Mis in the City.  On the way we picked out a nice restaurant called Erwin on Chicago’s North Side.  After picking it out I went on line to see if they had much of a beer list.  I was not very hopeful, but I figured there would at least be a standard Goose Island brew or two and maybe another craft selection.  As it turned out though, their beer selection was very impressive, I would even say inspired.  Of the 17 available bottles, only Amstel Light and Kaliber Non-Alcohol were non-craft selections.  If you click here and scroll down you can see just how impressive it is – Lagunitas, Two Brothers, Left Hand, even Ska! 

Sure enough, the Avery Maharaja was listed as well, and in fact, still is.  Shortly after we arrived, however, the waiter informed us that they have not had any in stock in quite some time.  I should have known better, Maharaja is not an easy beer to find and it is only brewed a few times a year (I believe three), but still, it was heartbreaking.  Plus, in all fairness, I probably would not have reviewed a beer in that setting, but still, I thought I was going to have a crack at a rare treat.  So Erwin, I appreciate the amazing salmon we had, the delicious burger I tried and whatever that delicious bean spread was that came out with the bread before the meal, but please do me a favor and take the Maharaja off of your online beer list.  Or, wait, better yet, get some Maharaja and let me know when you do so that I can come back.

The good news from all of this is that it shouldn’t take too long to get all of these beers back into my possession and reviewed.  Dogfish Head is distributed here in Chicago, so even though the Burton Baton is a tough find, I’m sure I can track it down.  Avery is also distributed here, but even if it continues to hide from me in Illinois, I will be in Boulder in late March and I will be sure to stop at the brewery then.  As for the Double Simcoe, well, it could show up any time between now and Wednesday and if not, well, I’ll have another topic for a blog post. 

Enjoy your weekend everyone, and remember, just say no to Bud, Miller-Coors.  Say yes to good, American craft beer!

The Weyerbacher's Double Simcoe Trade

Posted by: Tyler Rippeteau

Feb. 8, 2011

***UPDATE*** After a few weeks of struggle, the Weyerbacher's Double Simcoe IPA has finally arrived, check out the review here.***UPDATE***

Since we began reviewing beers here at 20 Beers in 20 Nights Worldwide Headquarters in Evanston, IL a few weeks ago, we’ve been picking some low hanging fruit.  Sure Hopslam is not a particularly common or easy to find beer all the time, but here in Chicago, it is not a problem to find it when it is released. 

Well, after four reviews (and with number five already in the pipeline) it is time to get serious about finding a few of the beers on The List that are not readily available.  So, I headed over to Beer Advocate to find some trading partners and I came across a user named nevins (funny coincidence of a name for those of you who know me) who was able to get his hands on beer #12 on The List – Weyerbacher Brewing Company’s Double Simcoe IPA.  Additionally, and what I originally got in on the trade for, he’ll be sending along a six pack of one of my all-time favorite IPAs – Ithaca Beer Company's Flower Power and a couple of Ithaca’s limited releases.  What I sent back to him in return is pictured on the right.  If you can't see, it's a six-pack of Bell's Hopslam, a couple bombers of Three Floyds Dreadnaught DIPA and a bomber of Three Floyds Behemoth, which I have yet to try, but will do so soon.  

Not a bad haul for either of us.

Anyhow, the Double Simcoe currently has a Beer Advocate rating of A-/4.16 and 994 BA members have reviewed it.  It has a 9% ABV and it is named after the hops in it – 100% Simcoe Hops, a variety that was created in 2000 out on the West Coast known for its piney taste and bitterness.

I'm looking forward to the whole lot from nevins and to writing the review!  Stay tuned.