Mikkeller Single Hop IPA Series: Cascade, Palisade, and Columbus

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#IPADay, #IPADay san diego, mikkeller hop series, Mikkeller Hop Series Cascade, Mikkeller Hop Series Columbus, Mikkeller Hop Series Palisade

I got a head start on #IPADay by sampling a few of the Mikkeller Single Hop IPAs earlier this week. Mikkeller brewed nearly 20 IPAs, all with the exact same recipe using only a single hop variety, with the only difference between each beer being the use of a different hop. With everything being equal except for the hops this allows for a better chance at evaluating the differences between the different hop varietals.

I picked up the Cascade, Palisade and Columbus offerings and drank them all side by side for comparisons sake. Each one of them is 6.8% and looked more or less the same (same color and head retention). To better let the hop smells and flavors come out I left them all warm up to about 6oF. I found each one of them fairly sweet, with quite a bit of caramel flavors which seemed to detract from the hops being front and center.

Due to the different hops each beer had a different IBU with the Cascade coming in the lowest at 38 IBU. Out of the three hops used here, Cascade might be the one I am most familiar with, thanks to the use of it in Sierra Nevada’s Pale Ale. It smelled and tasted very floral. The first sip was almost like eating a flower in a salad. It’s not overly bitter but the bitterness does linger. There’s some grapefruit smells and tastes in there as well.

The Palisade IPA came in at 47 IBU, but it actually tasted less bitter than the Cascade version. It was sweeter and a little fruity. I later read that Palisade hops sometimes have an apricot like taste, which I never would have come up with on my own but certainly fit the taste. I didn’t taste any citrus, which is a common flavor in many hops.

The Columbus IPA was the heavy hitter in the trio with a whopping 114 IBUs. It was bitter, more bitter than the previous two but it certainly didn’t seem over twice as bitter as the Palisade IPA or three times as bitter as the Cascade version. It smelled much more like a “typical” west coast IPA, but also had a bit of a chemical smell. It had flavors reminiscent of pine and citrus as well as being a bit spicy.

None of these three blew me away as beers. I don’t think I would drink any of them on their own, but it was great to drink them side by side, and the 6oz of each was perfect (I split each bottle with my brother). It certainly did highlight the differences with each hop, with each of these smelling and tasting very different. It also highlighted how important a good recipe is, just dumping a bunch of hops in a beer won’t lead to a good IPA, brewers must use the right combination of hops, in the right amounts to come up with a truly great IPA.

Bottlecraft will be doing a flight of these three, plus the Single Hop Magnum version tomorrow in honor of #IPADay. The flight of four will cost $11. I picked these three up at Bottlecraft, the Cascade was $5.30 and the Palisade and Columbus were $5.50 each, all in 11.2oz bottles.

Click here for more #IPADay events going on around town

Photo by Chris Hammett.

International #IPADay, Thursday August 4th, 2011

Tags

#IPADay, #IPADay san diego

International #IPADay is an effort to unite craft beer fans, both new and old, on the internet to raise a toast to India Pale Ales while conversing about beer. As the # in the name implies, this is an online organizational effort, asking people to blog, tweet, post pictures and video and more all based around the hashtag #IPADay making it easy for others to join the conversation. #IPADay is the idea of beer blogger The Beer Wench, and San Diego’s own Ryan Ross. But not all of #IPADay will take place online, many bars and restaurants will be putting special IPAs on tap, running discounts and specials and helping to celebrate IPAs IRL (in real life).

As expected, there won’t be any shortage of places to get a good IPA on Thursday in San Diego. Below is a list of all the #IPADay events going on in San Diego that I could find. If you know of any more please send me an email events@sandiegobeerblog.com

 

• Ballast Point Linda Vista/Homebrew Mart will have IPAs all day long, with a special Sculpin IPA with Lime, Ginger and Szechuan Peppercorn brewed just for the occasion. They’ll also have plenty of other treats including Sculpin IPA with Habanero, Sculpin IPA on Nitro, “Regular” Sculpin IPA, “Regular” Big Eye IPA, Big Eye IPA with Ginger and more.
• Karl Strauss will have IPA specials at all of their brewpub locations. $4 pints and $9 growler fills of Tower 10, Heavy Petti and Boardwalk Black Rye will be available all day. They’ll also have a cask at night with Tower 10 IPA dry hopped with  Ahtanum, Amarillo, Cascade, Chinook & Pacifica hops. Heavy Petti was brewed by Karl Strauss’s James Petti especially for #IPADay. It uses Cascade, Palisade, Moteuka, and Nelson Sauvin hops with some rolled oats in the mash for a floral and tropical smooth IPA.
• Bottlecraft in Little Italy will be doing 3 IPA flights with four tasters each. One single IPA, one Double IPA, and of Mikkeller’s Single Hop IPA series.
• KnB Wine Cellars in Del Cerro will have a number of IPAs on tap including Stone Double Dry Hopped Ruination, Great Divide Rumble Oak Aged IPA, Karl Strauss Heavy Petti and more.
• Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens will host a tweetup from 5-7pm with a special cask of Stone IPA and other rare IPAs on draft.
• Ritual Tavern will host the release of Butcher Brewing’s latest beer, Imperial Mucho Aloha Double Shaka.
• Tatiana Peavey of the beer blog Fugglybrew.com is hosting a craft beer pub crawl in North Park with specials at IPAs at each bar. Bars and restaurants include: The Linkery, True North, URBN, El Take it Easy, Toronado and Ritual Tavern.
• Phileas Foggs in Poway will have at least 10 IPA’s on tap and 15 others in bottles with live music from 7pm to 10pm. They’ll also be serving an IPA Beer Cheese Soup in a Sourdough Bread Bowl and IPA Mustard Chicken Wings.
• Blind Lady Ale House will have many IPAs and Double IPAs on draft including  and Firestone Walker Double Jack, Grand Teton Trout Hop, Firestone Walker Union Jack, Russian River Pliny the Elder, Coronado Black Ops, Hanger 24 Black Rye IPA more.