The Double or Imperial moniker is given to beer generally over 7.5%ABV to denote their alcoholic strength. If you’ve been paying attention to your local liquor store’s beer shelves or the taps at your favorite craft bar, you’ve definitely noticed an increase in larger – read beer with more alcohol – beers. Higher ABV beers are being viewed as having a more fuller flavor (this is not a true statement, but a perception) than average ABV beers such as your typical pale, amber, or pilsner due to their new demand in the United States market.
Larger beers have been a mainstay world wide, especially in Germany, Belgium, and the UK, but have been relatively absent in the United States due to prohibition, then to the prohibition of taste instilled by the United States macrobreweries. As more and more consumers start to understand and appreciate craft, especially in the last five years, there has been a resurgence of larger beers. Breweries can feel comfortable charging their costs because a newer, more appreciative, market has begun to develop and purchase these products. It is understandable how larger beers have begun to be seen as having a more full or craft flavor as the new consumers have begun to flock to some of the more extravagant American-styles or American-style re-imaginations.
This is not to say large beers are not amazing, because clearly they are phenomenal! Heavier malt flavors strike through offering more examples of blending and balance, and also the potential for more hop usage to balance out some of the sweeter malt tones. The yeast then can blend all three together into a delightful symphony, but something with power, I’m thinking Rachmaninoff, elegance with some force.
Dangerous Man’s Double Imperial Pale Ale is a simple malt affair featuring a star-studded cast of hops. This beast contains Millenium, Columbus, Motueka, Zythos, Falconer’s Flight 7c’s, and Crystal hops in the kettle while Topaz, Citra, and Chinook were used as dry hops. This beer is a powerful contender; as beastly as Bane, as vicious as a Mr. K. Croc, as powerful as the almighty Solomon Grundy, and as noble as the Bat himself. We’re shooting the moon IBU-wise and delivering the killing joke of a beer. Come get the giggles over here; come laugh yourself away.
Drink local, drink Dangerous.
