Let's give a double IPA a crack

This week, I went down to my local off licence, and I asked the guy to recommend a really good beer for me. He came back with this one.

Cool name - check.

Cool label art - check.

IPA - check.

In a can - check.

Ok, so far, in my eyes, it was a winner, a little on the expensive side at €5.40 a can, but I said, why not, let's see what this badboy is like.

So, without further ramblings, I give you...

This weeks beer of the week.....

Swoon Whiplash Double IPA

Intro

So, as i said above, this one was a recommendation from the beer expert in my local off license. I was really looking forward to getting home and trying this one, and to make it even better, it was Champions League Semi Final second leg night also, so I was going to tuck into this while watching Liverpool and Roma battle it out at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

This particular beer is a double IPA. You may be wondering what is the difference between a regular IPA and a double IPA. Well, it mainly to do with the hops. Double IPAs, which are also known as Imperial IPAs use a lot more hops than a normal IPA. They typically use double or even triple the typical amount of hops, but also add more malts to balance the overall beer. The resulting beer will have sharp hoppy highs and deep malty depths. These double IPA will also have a higher ABV, and are often 7% to 9%, although you would not think it when drinking them, so a couple are usually enough for me, and then I move onto something else.

Can Art

I'm a real fan of the art on the side of this can. What do you think of it?

Review

This one pours a small head and this quickly disappears. Creamy and smooth in the mouth, with the hops really apparent. In fact when you open the can, the hoppy smell is delightful as it billows out of the can and hits the back of your nose. To be fair, I do like a hoppy beer, so this one was right up my street. It is quite surprising that this is 8% ABV, that is not a million miles of wine strength! You really would not think it, and if you went on a session drinking these, you would forget your own name after 8 of them!

Lacing was little to none, which makes sense given that there was very little head on the beer to begin with. I really liked the hazy orange colour of this in the glass, and this one was enjoyed slowly, with small mouthfuls. The taste was of tangerine, peach, orange peel and mild pine. This one was bitter like a jam, with a long lasting fruity finish. The mouthfeel was oily and sweet.

The only thing that could have made it better, was if I had another one to crack open afterwards :o)

I enjoyed this with some nice salty snacks. They were West Country Cheddar and Chilli Jam flavour and they were feckin lovely!

Stats

• Brewer: Whiplash @Larkin's Brewery, Unit 2 Renmore Business Park, Kilcoole, Co Wicklow, Ireland
• Alcohol Content: 8%
• Size: 440ml/44cl can
• Some History of the brewery follows in italics. Everything in italics was taken from http://www.whiplashbeer.com/about/

Whiplash begun as a side project for Alan & Alex back in 2016. Both working in brewing already, they rented tanks at the weekend and released single batch small releases for fun from their own place of work and other friend’s breweries around Ireland. Professional beer dudes who were gypsying for fun. Things escalated and by the end of 2017 Whiplash was its very own pain in the neck with the guys going full time. Now renting space and brewing primarily from Larkin’s Brewing Company in Co. Wicklow, 2018 is very much year zero for Whiplash with lots of stuff to come.

Our Story
Alex Lawes - Founder, Owner, Brewer
Alan Wolfe - Founder, Owner, Facilitator

Alan and Alex met while working together at Rye River Brewing Company. Alex a homebrewer with a few steps taken into professional brewing through different previous projects, and Alan - an operations manager coming from a few long stints at large breweries. They built the brewery they were at in break-neck speed but wanted to slow things down a bit with specials. They formed Whiplash as its own company and released a couple of beers in year one to a great reception.
Being awarded Beer of the Year by Irish consumers, Best Brewery nods from bloggers, Honest Brew's Breakthrough Brewery award and landing in as Ireland's top rated brewery on Untappd was a serious encouragement to take the project full time.

By 2017 both had done just that, leaving behind 24hr shift brewing schedules, meetings in suits and a small part of their minds; for a better and more enjoyable arrangement. Alex doing the brewing, Alan doing the commercials with crossovers wherever they could. 2018 has seen them rent their first premises in their new home in County Wicklow where the guys plan to focus on regular specials and general experimentation unavailable before they had a home. Whiplash beers are now exported to the UK, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands too with more coming up. Quality is always and will always be the focus. Bags of cans the celebrations.

From this.....

To this......

Thanks lads - a cracking beer...

Rating

4/5

This is a post for #BeerSaturday hosted by @detlev

I hope you enjoyed my review, why not drop by https://steemit.com/@ablaze and say hello :)

The other reviews of Irish beers can be found here if you are interested:

Irish Beer Review 1 Mcgargles Cousin Rosies
Irish Beer Review 2 The Foxes Rock IPA
Irish Beer Review 3 Kinnegar Scraggy Bay Indian Pale Ale
Irish Beer Review 4 Tom Crean's Irish Lager
Irish Beer Review 5 Rascals Wunderbar IPA
Irish Beer Review 6 Costellos White Rhino IPA
Irish Beer Review 7 Boyne Brewhouse Irish Craft IPA
Irish Beer Review 8 Maggies Leap IPA
Irish Beer Review 9 Kinnegar The Devil's Backbone Amber Ale
Irish Beer Review 10 The Journeyman IPA
Irish Beer Review 11 Jack Cody's Amber Ale

All of the photos are mine and were taken with my Samsung Galaxy A5