NOW WE’RE TALKING, SOUTHERN TIER

I went with another east coast beer last night that was sitting in my beer locker as the result of a December trade: SOUTHERN TIER HOPPE, a delicious and classic American double IPA. Naturally, in a bit of needless boundary-blurring, SOUTHERN TIER BREWING are trying to classify this as an “Imperial Extra Pale Ale”, as if any of us know what that is. DIPA all the way. This beer is an absolute doozy, and reminds me again why I was so attracted to this first couple of ales I tried from these folks. HOPPE is, indeed, very hoppy and bitter, pouring a deep orange, with luscious tastes of grapefruit and blood orange – in fact, I was wondering if they spiked this thing with some darker fruits, but then reckoned that I was seeing things where they probably weren’t. Nope, it’s all about hops and all about balance, and as such, this is one of the great, big-ass IPAs of our time. A huge leap above the mediocre and even better than the fearsome and much-celebrated Russian River twosome, BLING PIG IPA and PLINY THE ELDER. That’s what HBJ says, anyway. 9/10.