Oggi's Ding Ding Double IPA

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

09.30.05 Tap at Falling Rock. Darker amber pour with sticky and lacy whtie head. Aroma of fresh peeled fiji apples, spruce, pineapple, resinous, and melts in to the flavor. Spicy and sticky brew oozes across the tongue depositing a lovely mix of seed fruits, grape skins, pineapple, citrus, and more woody hops. Attacks the palate front to back. Well done.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 10 | Overall: 10

Was hanging out at O'Brien's, minding my own business, doing a little tele-commuting (i.e. using my laptop to take care of some work, via O'Briens' wireless network connection), when I happen to overhear some of the QUAFF'er's¹ oohing and aahing over a growler of a hard-to-find Double IPA. Now, "hard-to-find" and "Double IPA" are all magic words to me. To make a long story short, I got a half-pint of one of *the* stand-outs from the 2003 Strong Ale Festival, the infamous oddly-named "Ding Ding" Imperial IPA. Does life get any better than this? ;^)

I made it a point to not take any beer-notes at the entire 19 hours that me and my bud Richard were at the last SD Strong Ale festival, but most assuredly I remember that this was one of the very best beers of the entire two-day beer fest -- which explains why it was tapped-out by 7pm on the second day.

This most recent (and perhaps more sedate) tasting only reinforced my positive impression of this beer. In fact, I think whatever aging that this beer garnered between the initial tapping at the `03 SD Strong Ale Fest and May `04 only helped this beer's overall merit. Exceptional flavor profile, with a very crisp and snappy hop-profile (ala 3F Dreadnaught), with the complex reinforcing malt-bill (ala DFH 90-min), and ultra-clean finish (ala Stone Ruination). That is to say, this beer takes many of the positive aspects of some of the very best Double/Imperial IPA's, and takes things to a whole new level.

In my thinking, growlers are normally a fairly poor way to store and serve beers. But seeing how this most recent sampling was stored months in a growler, and yet still frickin' awesome, it just makes sense to assume that somehow getting this fresh would be perhaps even more other-worldly, so to speak. ;)

Most highly recommended.
//TB

¹ http://quaff.org/

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Medium orange gold color. Medium tan foamy head. Aroma is piney and floral. A medium bodied double IPA. Malts are nutty and sweet. Hops are very piney, grapefruity with a touch of citrus and floral. The hops really dominate in this beer, Balanced toward the bitter, but not in any overly aggressive way. Smooth and juicy. No noticeable alcohol bite at 10.5%. Very nice. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly bitter.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

This brew pours with a deep amber body topped by a thin head with little lacing left behind. The aroma is sweet and very citrusy, mostly lemon and orange, with tons of hop notes and a slight maltiness. The flavor is sweet, malty and citrusy, as well as, very hoppy, bitter and piney. Full bodied, amazingly smooth yet dry and warming.