Mike's Premium Organic Double IPA
Mike's Organic Brewery

 

750ml bottle given to me by @LaitueGonflable for Xmas. The shape of the neck is a little unfortunate, as it means that you have to pour very carefully to get a steady pour, otherwise it just gloop, gloop, gloops its way out.

Pours a very pleasant, lightly hazed deep orange hue, with a firm and silky head of off-white, that stays persistent, despite being flat and heavy. Lacing is gelatinous and oily, and the body is immensely good: thick, goopy, oily, and holding persistent fine streams of carbonation. It's a really good looking Double IPA.

Nose is fresh, bright and resiny, with west coast American hops dominant, giving lilting citrus and earthy pine needle characters. There's a hint of fragrant, nutty malt to the mix as well, which pings nicely off the hops. It's a very fragrant and very pleasant IPA nose, much in the American style.

Taste is also good, largely because of the lovely balance created by the solid, chewy body and the oily, resiny hops. Together, they latch on to the little malt sweetness, to provide a pleasant savoury orange and bitter almond character, with a clean pine resin finish to clear it out.

The body is wonderful, and makes the beer what it is. It's supple, smooth and liquid, while maintaining a heady, slick weight to it. This allows those flavours of bitter citrus, the earthy undertones, and the supple moderated sweetness to do what they will.

Overall: a very, very good Double IPA. The bitterness is matched perfectly with the weight elsewhere in the beer. I'm always a little confused when New Zealand breweries choose to brew in American styles when they have such a store of local (and in my opinion better) ingredient to draw upon, but this just shows what brewing skills they have too. Probably one of the best US DIPAs I've had from outside America.

 

Pours murky dark amber with a large, fading head.
Nose shows lots of sweet fruit, confectionary (mmm, jelly snakes), resinous hops and trucksloads of sweet caramel and sugary malt.
Flavours are similarly malty, with resinous pine being the main hop character. Some fruit transfers through but nothing like in the aroma. There's a bold bitterness in the finish but really, the sweet caramel malt tramples all over it. Some hot alcohol shows.
Could use more carbonation, very syrupy body.
Quite the malt bomb...

750mL bottle thanks to Chris@Slowbeer. Batch 6, Bottle 59.

Blood orange, largely clear, with a finger of white sudsy head that falls relatively quickly leaving a sticky raised ring of lace. Looks pretty tame really.

Quite the citrus blast, but I'm detecting plenty of NZ Sauvin too - don't know if Sauvin hops were used, I could have them on the brain from my last beer. Tangerine, pineapple, kiwi fruit, mango, strawberry and cut grass. Malt character is palpable. Tangy, bready, biscuity, and caramelly - almost more going on than with the hops.

Taste is not quite up to the aroma. Grass clippings, Thai basil, passionfruit, honeydew melon and pine resin, bolted on to the very solid malt background.

Rich and even, with low-medium carbonation and excellent length and pleasant lingering bitterness.

Big, brash, but balanced. Think the hops have faded a little, but this is still a gutsy West-Coast style IPA with a clear NZ twist. I'd like to do a re-review with a fresh batch.