Devil Dancer Triple IPA - Founders Brewing Company, Grand Rapids
Style:
Triple India Pale Ale
Serving Type:
Bottle
Alcohol by Volume:
12.0%
Aroma:
Orange-citrus and malt up front, almost smells sour. Definite alcohol and hop aroma on the nose as well
Appearance:
Hazy copper colored body topped by a thin, but persistent, head of tiny cream colored bubbles
Flavor:
Lots of strong, harsh flavors in this beer. The alcohol burn starts early, you'll notice lots and lots of caramel malt, some sweet fruit and brown sugar. Hops aren't overpowering at first but really bitter up the finish
Mouthfeel:
Full bodied and quite drinkable for a 12% ABV beer. The harsh hops bitterness makes it unpleasant at times
Founder's calls this beer a Triple IPA. Triple IPA isn't a generally accepted style of beer... it's part marketing and part one-upsmanship. Without waxing philosophical about beer styles I'll just leave it at this, you have IPAs and Double IPAs and that's it. If you start calling beer Triple or Quadruple IPAs then where does it end? A 60% ABV beer that's arbitrarily called a Septuple IPA? It's ludicrous. But I digress. Founder's Devil Dance is a Double IPA that's been pampered with hops until it has reached 12% ABV. That's no small feat for any beer really, considering most double digit ABV beers are usually Stouts.
The Devil Dancer seemed pretty boring at first. When I poured this beer into my glass I got no sense that this was anything special. It smelled a bit like an IPA with a little something extra, something indescribable on the nose. The appearance matched that of other Double IPAs I've had before, it's darker... more copper than red, and hazy throughout the body. The head was underwhelming, just a thin layer of cream colored bubbles.
It wasn't until I took my first sip of the Devil Dancer that I realized exactly what was going on here. This beer is packed full of flavor and you'll notice it the second it hits your tongue. There is a harsh bitterness right up front but my attention was drawn to the super sweet caramel malt that made up the base of this beer. Layered on top of that however, was a metric ton of hops. I read that this beer is dry hopped for twenty six days straight and has a theoretical IBU of just over 200. Not being a professional brewer, or someone that doesn't pay much mind to hopping regimens, I'm impressed but I'm not sure exactly what it means...
What I do know is that I'm conflicted about this beer. The flavors in it area amazing, very similar to Dogfish Head's 120 Minute IPA and, to a much lesser extent Sam Adams Utopius. There is a common thread of super caramel malt and brandy flavors between all of these beers that I really enjoy. What I don't like so much about this beer is the incredibly harsh hop bitterness. Thankfully, there is enough going on in this beer to distract you while your tastebuds are melted away.
In the end I'd definitely classify this as a beer I'd only recommend to fans of extreme beers. At 12% and chock full of hop flavor it's not something everyone should drink on just any occasion. If you're looking for another extremely unique beer and the next big must have it-beer, here you go.
Comments
Theoretical IBU means someone
Theoretical IBU means someone brewed some beers and had them analyzed for IBUs (which are ppm of bittering compounds, mostly isomerized alpha acids) and then fit a model to the data. So the 200 theoretical IBUs is probably not quite right both because the model is extrapolating at that point and because it appears that under normal conditions you can't dissolve much more than 120 IBUs worth of isomerized alpha acids in beer.
For example, Pliny the Elder measures around 90 IBU in the lab but is 120-140 theoretical. Devil Dancer is probably 120 or slightly higher in the lab.
That said, it isn't a meaningless number. Devil Dancer has a ton of hops and that contributes to the mouthfeel and flavor even you pass the point where you can't make the beer any more bitter.
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