Beer Rant

Okay for this beer blog I decided to keep the hop train right on a chugging so to speak. This beer was one of the most well balanced IPAs I've ever had! For those of you unfamiliar with Fish Brewing, they make damn hoppy beers. Even their standard pale ale tastes like a full fledged IPA from the offerings of other breweries. The kicker being that for this line of their production they use nothing but organic material. They source everything necessary in order to be certified 100% organic from the U.S. government, which to me makes it all that more impressive that they accomplish what they do from the limited selection they have for their raw materials. Living in the state of Washington you might believe hops to be readily available on every corner, given we produce more than any other state in the union, but in fact a heavy proportion of the world's organic hops come from New Zealand! In economic terms that means supplies are limited, and expensive, and for those not in the know New Zealand is a group of two major islands that lie thousands of miles away from North America, and just about every other part of the world. But on the beer at hand, one of Fish Brewing's specialty ales, or Reel Ales, 10 squared. The beer is made from 10 different kinds of hops, and tops out the bitterness scale at 100 IBU's! What does that mean? Well it's kind of relative a normal IPA may be sitting around 35 IBU's and taste incredibly hoppy. An Imperial Stout may be tipping the scales at 60 IBU's, but trust me there will be little to zero hoppiness noticeable throught the entire beer drinking experience. This Imperial IPA is the most balanced of any I have ever had, period. Yes, I did have to spell it out to exemplify how perfectly this beer was brewed. Some Imperial IPAs taste overly sweet from alcohol content (ex. Runiantion IPA from Stone Brewing), others just taste like stomped hops leaving no other flavor or an incredibly dry flavor of the raw material used to make the brew (ex. Maritime Brewing Imperial IPA). This beer walks the line perfectly, it doesn't taste like a dry IPA, or a fresh hop, but rawest example of a beer brewed to IPA perfection which has the perfect amount of fresh taste without being to dry. And to me it's absolutely wonderful, the example by which all other Imperial IPAs should strive to achieve, complete and utter balance of hoppiness within the beer. Flavor is not lost on this one either, the use of 10 differnet types of hops gives it a variety of distinct flavors. This is the best part of this wonderfully balanced beer, it's extremely hoppy, but the unique flavor is not overwhelmed by the nature of the hops themselves. You should be able to taste some unique flavors without your tastebuds being overwhelmed by the nature of the usual hop flavor which can obliterate any other flavors in an IPA at times. Heavy, you bet, just like most beers this hoppy this one tips the scales at a wonderful 10% on the label, but after drinking it I firmly believe this may be underating the ale a little! It don't feel like 10% in the least! Carbonation and overall texture are perfect to match the rest of the ale. The sample I had was perfect all around right out of the bottle. Flavor, texture, smell, all the senses are in for a hoppy treat with this one. I have heard it is on tap at the 74th st ale house in Seattle, mine was bought right at the brewery when I picked up a keg of Winterfish (also excellent). I haven't even seen it at any of the specialty brew shops yet either, so if your in need a trip to our state capital may be in your near future. It may seem like a drive, but if you are an IPA lover, or genuine hop head, you should be visiting this brewery anyway. They make incredibly hoppy beers, and do a fine job on the overall crafting of any beer they produce. If one is lucky enough to be in the Greenwood area of Seattle, or at the old Fishbowl itself, I definitley say try or pick this beer up to see what the baseline of brewing perfection for what an Imperial IPA should be!