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Summit 30th Anniversary Double IPA

Here's to 30 more years
Here’s to 30 more years

In the ever growing beer community of Minnesota, there are a few names that have been around for a while.  Summit has been referred to as the “Old man” of MN craft breweries.  This year marks their 30th anniversary, and they are releasing a series of beers throughout the year to celebrate.  The first release is a double IPA.

A lovely pint
A lovely pint

The double IPA is an aggressively hopped, but still drinkable pale beer, with all the usual suspects… tropical, fruity hops, bracing bitterness, and a clean malt backbone.  It clocks in at 8.5% ABV, but is still quite drinkable.  An English ale yeast plays nicely with the fruitiness of the hops.  The shelves of your local liquor store are probably bursting with IPAs, but I can tell you that this one is worth working into your rotation.  Adding a bunch of hops to a beer is easy, but balancing the flavors that different American and New Zealand hops bring to the beer is really difficult.  Head brewer Damian McConn has managed to blend a lot of hop flavor in a really balanced way.

Tulip, or Spiegelau IPA glass? Buy the four pack, and try both.
Tulip, or Spiegelau IPA glass? Buy the four pack, and try both.

As for the rest of the year, there’s a lot to look forward to.  Three more beers are on their way in the 30th anniversary series (a Keller Pils, a West London Ale, and a Barleywine), in addition to the continuing Unchained series, and a Team Brew series being served at the Summit beer hall.  I get the feeling that all the breweries popping up are really pushing Summit to innovate and create new beers.  They didn’t survive 30 years by resting on their laurels, after all.  Over the years, they’ve created 46 different beers.  This double IPA is available in four packs of tallboys and on draft now, for a limited time.

By the numbers:

  • Malts: Pale, Concerto Pale, Wheat
  • Hops: Mosaic, Bravo, Citra, Equinox, and Orbit
  • Yeast: English Ale
  • IBUs: 101
  • ABV: 8.5%

From the brewer

Video from Damian McConn

Tasting events

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Summit Brewing Unchained #21: Us and Them

Both threads of Unchained 21
Both threads of Unchained 21

The latest Summit Unchained release is on its way to stores near you.  This time, in the 21st of the series, Summit’s brewer Gabe Smoley has produced Us and Them, a “Two Thread Brewing Experience.”  Based on the popular Sága IPA, this release is made of two beers; an American IPA and a session IPA.

Gabe has started with the grain bill of Sága and created two distinct beers.  Using a technique known as “Parti-gyle,” the same grain bill was used to produce a stronger, first “thread,” and a second, sessionable “thread.”  Then, using the same hops in different ways, the two threads were brewed in a way that really provides a unique experience, and a unique take on Sága, a familiar local beer.

It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Sága, so I was excited to dig into the first thread.

The first thread, the American IPA
The first thread, the American IPA

The American IPA portion of this beer is the bolder of the two.  It’s a bit darker in color, with a bigger malt presence.  Biscuit and caramel back up the beer.  The carbonation is slightly more pronounced than the second thread.  Hops are definitely reminiscent of what you get in Sága.  There are some Citra and Amarillo present, but the biggest hop presence is the Rakau hop.  This is a New Zealand hop that tastes a bit like dried apricot.  While this is the stronger of the two threads, it’s not a huge beer by any means.  At 7.2% ABV, this feels very much like Sága turned up just a touch.

Next, the session IPA.

Thread 2
Thread 2, the Session IPA

Thread 2 pours just a bit lighter.  The malt profile is similar but definitely favors biscuity flavors over any caramel.  While the same hops are used here, they are used differently.  Citra is much more prominent in this thread, with it’s oily, melon fruitiness.  This is the Session IPA, so drinks a little lighter, at 4% ABV. The Citra stands out quite a bit, though, so this doesn’t drink quite as easily as your standard session beer.  When drinking this side by side against the first thread, it’s really interesting that you can taste the same things in either beer, but just balanced differently enough to really stand out.

The two beers really are different expressions of a familiar beer.  It’s kind of a salute to beer nerds that Gabe has shown how much difference can be made with small changes to a beer.  I’m a regular drinker of Sága, and drinking these two beers really opened my eyes to what goes into my go to IPA.  Look for six and twelve packs of Unchained #21 hitting stores soon, packaged with both threads.

By the numbers:

Thread 1

  • Malts: 2-row pale, Caramel
  • Hops: Horizon, Centennial, Amarillo, Citra, Rakau (Rakau dry-hop)
  • ABV: 7.2%
  • IBU: 90

Thread 2

  • Malts: 2-row pale, Caramel
  • Hops: Horizon, Centennial, Amarillo, Citra, Rakau (Citra dry-hop)
  • ABV: 4%
  • IBU: 55

Sága (for comparison)

  • Malts: 2-row pale, Caramel
  • Hops: Centennial, Amarillo, Citra, Rakau (Amarillo, Citra, Rakau dry-hop)
  • ABV: 6.2%
  • IBU: 80

Links:

From the brewery

Upcoming tasting events

Review

Indeed Brewing Mexican Honey Imperial Lager

The Indeed Brewing Mexican Honey Imperial Lager is in a league of its own, especially among other summer beers. While honey lager conjures images of straw-colored beer in a clear bottle with or without a lime sticking out, imperial leads to thoughts of viscous, motor-oil like substances. Somewhere in the middle, and containing elements of each, is this unique flavor bomb.

Indeed Brewing Mexican Honey Imperial LagerWith aggressive honey character from start to finish and just enough alcoholic heat to get its point across, the Indeed Brewing Mexican Honey Imperial Lager will probably take you by surprise.

First, the Mexican orange blossom honey doesn’t add much sweetness. In fact, this beer is very dry and even mildly bitter in the finish. The dry finish allows the honey to come through, in contrast to one of Indeed’s other honey beers, the LSD, in which which the honey simply reads as “sweet”.

Furthermore, the orange on the nose is accompanied by a pleasant fruity-grape note and the malt delivers a graham cracker element — a very intriguing combination.

Mark Joseph, off-premise account manager, explains that the beer would age very well. “We just tried one that was a year old, the honey still came through. It was great.” With that, he took me back to the barrel room, where the Mexican Honey Imperial Lager is sitting in Don Julio Anejo tequila barrels. The aging brew will become Mexican Cousin in early 2015.

Worth the wait? I have no doubt. But for now try the Mexican Honey, available at the taproom and in bottles next week.

Indeed Brewing Barrel Room
Mexican Cousin waiting to be born in the Indeed Brewing Barrel Room