16 Ton IPA
Breaker Brewing Company

 

22oz bomber bottle poured into a standard glass. Appearance is sort of dark for an IPA. Smell delivery is quite pleasing, can smell the hops. The taste was nothinglike the initial smell of the beer. Was looking for a more hoppier IPA taste. Overall not a bad beer. The boys from Plains are making some really good beers. Would liket to see if they change the next batch up a bit. Bottle was purchased from Krugel's Georgetown Deli....

Out of an overpriced 22 ounce bomber bottle picked up at Krugels and into my shaker glass. WTF did I just pour? Appears a cloudy dark chestnut color akin to brewed iced tea with barely a finger of of light tan foam. Doesn't resemble a DIPA at all. Nose and flavors consist of super sweet low quality caramel malt, pine, some sort of citrus fruits, candied orange peel. Decent carbonation and overly sweet with a bit of alcohol heat as it warms. The label has a picture of a coal car filled with hops. Unfortunately, it tastes like the train derailed before it made it to Plains. A piss poor attempt at a DIPA. I want my fucking money back.

Pours a pretty dark brown color with quickly rising, foamy tan head. Keeps a full lace all the way to the bottom of the glass but does not leave any stick on the sides. Quite dark for an IPA or a DIPA of any persuasion.

Smell is raw and green, with leafy, tobacco like hop aromas. There is a good amount of sweet fruit here too, citrus primarily. The nose is actually quite sweet, with lots of caramel in particular. Almost becomes a bit medicinal with the sweetness and fruitiness. It's different than I expected; it's interesting, but not really a standout DIPA nose.

Taste is different than the smell. There's a candied citrus flavor of very sweet, juicy oranges, like super ripe, sugary blood oranges. The flavor actually isn't too bad, but it seems like much more of a barleywine than a DIPA with all the sweetness. The bitterness is pretty modest for a DIPA; certainly more modest than expected given the 116 IBUs listed on the label. It's pretty smooth, and the alcohol doesn't show at all.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied but actually feels a bit thin given the sweetness and high ABV. It's pretty creamy and smooth, though, and the alcohol is well masked.

Hm, this is a strange beer. I'd definitely call it more of a barleywine than a DIPA because of the maltiness. Too sweet and not hoppy enough to be a DIPA. At the end of the day it's not too bad; definitely has some nice qualities, but it's not really what I look for in DIPA. I know they are tweaking recipes, and in this case I think they need to start with the malt bill. The color gives that away immediately. I think they probably need to replace some caramel malt or whatever they used with a highly fermentable sugar that will boost the alcohol to the level they're going for without imparting so much sweetness. That would let the hops stand out more. Even though I'm not wild about this beer, I'm glad Breaker is continuing to try new things and I will check back next time this is brewed to see how it has evolved.

22oz bottle poured into a standard shaker glass. Appearance is really dark for an IPA. Almost black. Smell is very good. Lots of citrus and pine in the smell. The good qualities of the smell don't carry over to the taste. The taste is nothing spelcial. Too malty for an IPA. Plenty of carbonation give it a nice mouthfeel. Overall, it is a decent but I wouldn't call it an IPA.