Rye Mad Hatter India Pale Ale from New Holland Brewing Company of Michigan is one of their Mad Hatter series.   It pours a dark amber, with a huge, dense, long lasting rye head.  It’s heavy on the malt which gives it extra body and fullness, and smooths out the usual crispness that I associate with rye-based ales.  The nose is toasty grains, and there’s some spiciness and citrus in the middle with citrus and floral hops at the end.   It’s fairly bitter, but the rye also makes it a bit more complex than the usual IPA, which I find nice.  This is a good beer.

Double Trouble Ale is an Imperial IPA from Founder’s Brewing, and wow, is it turned up a notch.   It isn’t one of those heavy-yet-balanced double IPAs, this is an IPA with the volume set to 11.  It’s a nice golden amber in the glass, with a thick meringue-like head that sticks around for awhile.  The nose is orange and lemon and pine.  It does have a lot of body, and a lot of alcohol.  (9.4% ABV)  In the middle is more citrus, with a quick flash of heat from the alcohol followed by an intense bitterness that’s got some spice right at the end.

I’m a big fan of Dogfish Head’s off-centered ales, and Festina Pêche is another unusual fruit beer in the Berliner Weisse style from the fine folks in Delaware.   It isn’t a sweet beer at all, but quite tart, to the point of sourness.  The yeast and the peaches are the main source of the flavors and aroma here, with not a lot added by the malt or hops.  The yeast adds an tart apple flavor, and some funky Belgian scents, and the peach concentrate adds, well, peach scents and flavors.  It’s a fairly light beer too, at 4.5% ABV, so it’s an outstanding refreshment on a hot summer’s eve.

For it’s 10th anniversary, Terrapin Beer Co of Athens, Georgia has a special release, and it’s a Belgian Strong Ale.   I couldn’t pass up a bottle, as if you’ve been reading long, you know I love Belgian beers.  It pours a nice golden amber with a foamy head that doesn’t last long.  The nose has honey and rye and just a tiny hint of that Belgian yeast.  The middle has orange and some cherry notes, and the finish is slightly spicy, warm with bit of alcohol and just a bit sticky.  This is a medium to heavy bodied ale, and a big one, at a very precise 9.969% ABV, according to the bottle. (10% ABV according to Terrapin’s website.)   This is a nice, full, heavy ale that has a lot of flavor, but none of the bitterness, burn, or the strong sour notes that turn some people off. I think this is a really nice all-around big beer.

What better beer for a bonus IPA Day review?  Founders Brewing Company calls Devil Dancer a Triple IPA, and justifies the labels by endowing it with a monstrous 112 IBUs, and indeed, it is massively bitter.  Heavy pine resin and sweet sticky citrus in the nose.   The middle is a hop bomb, pine and lemon and grapefruit rind dominate, with some caramel malt in the background   More pine and citrus and some alcohol in the finish.  This is another huge beer at 12% ABV, and it’s got a heavy body to match.    It’s not exactly a one trick pony in that they’ve tried to malt it up to handle the insane level of hops, but I have to say, for a beer of the “lets add hops until their taste buds start blowing fuses” variety, I really like this beer a lot.

Harpoon Brewery’s Black IPA from their 100 Barrel Series is a big dark beer.  It’s not truly black, but it’s a deep dark brown that’s indicative of the strong earthy flavor you’re in store for from the apparently huge dose of Ahtanum hops.  The head is long lasting and nice and creamy.  They call the scent “fruity” but I find it’s more roasty, with a bit of chocolate, than it is fruity.   The flavor is heavily tilted towards earthy, but there’s a little bit of coffee and lemon in there as well, and a slightly oaky finish.  It’s a medium-bodied beer, and has a reasonably moderate alcohol content of 7.0% ABV.  This beer is a bit overpowering and bitter if it’s served too cold, but mellows nicely as it warms up.  It definitely prefers being closer to 60F than to 40F. It’s not knocking my socks off, but it’s a very nice, very interesting beer that will definitely appeal to those with palates that appreciate different takes on bitterness.

The Spiced IPA from Portland, Oregon’s Widmer Brothers Brewing is the first in their Rotator IPA Series that I’ve tried. It’s a golden amber in the glass, with low carbonation and a nice foamy head that sticks around for awhile. The nose is hoppy and floral, and flavor has lemon and spices. This is a hop heavy beer, but it’s more spicy than bitter. It’s not terribly spicy either though. I mentioned earlier that this is a fairly flat beer, carbonation-wise (which is fine for a good strong ale) but I find the flavor to be a bit flat as well.

I give it a 2.6 out of 5.

Anchor Brewing’s Summer Beer is a pale wheat all malt ale, in the style of a classic English pale ale.    It pours super pale, one of the lightest golden beers I’ve seen this side of Corona, with a light, billowy head that Anchor calls “similar to meringue” which I find to be an accurate description.   The scent is a slightly nutty, toasty malt, and the flavor is muted with some lemon.    It’s pretty heavily carbonated, and that, along with the light malt flavor give it some distinct similarities to a Pilsner, like Boston Lager.   It’s a nice light summer beer for sure, but I think I’m going to look for something with a bit more hop kick for my go-to lawnmower beer.

It’s time for compare-and-contrast.   My last review was of Unibroue’s spectacular Abbey-style Belgian strong dark ale “Terrible.”   Today, it’s their extra strong dark ale, 17.   Despite being an extra strong dark ale, this beer is actually a bit lighter than Terrible in coloration, (still a deep brown) body (still medium to heavy) and alcohol. (Down from 10.5% ABC to 10%.)  The head lasts a bit longer and is silky smooth.  The scent is heavier on the yeast and lighter on fruit.  The flavor is sweet berries and sour Belgian yeast, and though this is oak aged, the oak and the vanilla flavors imparted are refined, and give the beer a subtle finish, and not overbearing at all.  This is another outstanding Belgian from Canadian brewer Unibroue.   I think I have a new favorite brewery.