WHO’S YOUR DOUBLE DADDY?

I’ll admit, I haven’t been floored by any of the SPEAKEASY BREWING beers I’ve tried to date, and I think now I’ve tried all of the bottled varieties. The San Francisco brewery is literally located 5 miles from my house, and as much as I want to root for the hometeam, their beers just don’t seem to have the je ne sais quoi that’s going to put them in a Moylan’s, Anderson Valley or Russian River-esque league. The latest try for me was the SPEAKEASY DOUBLE DADDY Double IPA, which I’ve recently started seeing in bottles around town. I was pretty happy with the first few sips, and considering calling it slightly above average for its style, but then as it warmed the alcohol started taking over in a bad way. Alcohol is no enemy of mine, but even in a super-hoppy beer like this one, you want its taste to be downplayed so that the bite of the hops is the first thing you notice, not the warmth and bitterness of straight-up paint thinner. I think the entire beer is too thin to really support the flavors they are going for, and there was absolutely no head from the one I poured. Strange. It’s definitely a different formulation than most Double IPAs I’ve had, and while not obnoxious, I only gave it a 5.5/10 and I doubt I’ll make the call for this one again.