Wood Devil
603 Brewery

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Canned on Nov 20 17 opened on Nov 28 17
Updated review below 11/7/22** noted**

A burnt orange and gold color. A thick ass off white foam cover is smooth, bubbly and lacy.

The aroma coming from this DIPA has a major malty presence. Amber and not light golden malts...?a denser, thicker malt smell gor sure. Caramel.....sweet tropical fruits in the hops with....well, yeah, pretty sweet really. Caramel malt over big fruity hops.

I must admit, my home state of New Hampshaa is a bit behind in the craft ....

****Updated>>>
Wood Devil Double IPA

603 Brewery

IPA - Imperial / Double

Definitely the best 603 offering I've had. A beast, with a slick and malty under riding flow character. The hops are piney, tropical with dry, grainy earthy tones under that. Bitterness and booze in a big way for the finish.

 

From a 12oz can, dated 05/20/17. Served in a pub glass.

Pours a just-barely hazed dark gold with a very pretty two-finger-plus head of soft, pouffy, bubbly suds. Retention is very good and leaves thick webs of lacing.

The nose is sharp and malty, apple peels and hay.

Taste is malt-forward like the nose with toasted grain, hay, caramel and apple. Nice, traditional, what I think of as English-style bittering, it finishes with tobacco, grassy bitterness and just a little alcohol.

Feel is smooth and creamy, medium-hefty bodied, slightly under-carbonated and mildy boozy.

Much closer in style to an English than an American IPA I should think, and I might have enjoyed it better if that's what my tongue had been anticipating. Still, I have three more cans and now I'll know what to expect.

Poured into a tulip, the appearance was a hazy burnt orange color with a thin film of a little white head. Messy lace. The aroma had some pine and orange pulp initially and then had a good malt base of toffee and caramel bits. Some cereal grains. The flavor copied the aroma in an old school sort of way but with a slight juiciness to it. Aftertaste was a nice blend of malts to hops, bitter and sweet but not fully blended. Slight sort of malty finish. The feel was about medium bodied with a fair sessionable to sticky sipping sort of quality about it. Not cloying but almost. ABV felt fine and the carbonation felt fine. Overall, first time I ever had Long Trail’s Space Juice I thought it was phenomenal and in a sense it still is in the same way that this beer is. I wonder if we have a new IPA style developing - "Old School DIPA?" Not sure, but this would be in that category along with Space Juice.

Pours a deep orange yellow to amber with a foamy off white head. Good surface coverage and laces well. Smells of citrus, pine, sweet caramel malt and alcohol. Flavor follows with sweet malt being the dominant factor. Feel is rich, oily, smooth, sticky, medium carbonation, warm alcohol, and does have a lingering bitterness. Overall, this is a decent DIPA that almost drinks more like a slightly sweeter Barleywine. Cheers!

 

I've had a few beers from 603, but none of them have really wowed me at all. When I was at Craft Beer Cellar in Nashua earlier, this caught my eye due to being recently released in 12 oz cans. I've wanted to try it, but, having not known much about it, didn't want to spend the money for a bomber (the previous format it was released in) that I'd have to drain-pour if it wasn't worthy. Some of these smaller NH breweries are, honestly, not good enough to be releasing stuff at the prices they sit on shelves at, so this format change may have been a good idea for 603.

Pours an orange-ish caramel color with a thick head of white that leaves behind some impressive lace as it sinks. Surface is murky and retentive, with some bigger bubbles retaining shape atop the body of this bold looking beer. The head seems tough to really re-rouse, as repeated swirls bestow the same finger of foam, but it looks pretty nice, all things considered.

Nose is sugary-sweet upfront with some caramel, toffee and rock candy, soon crossing into hoppier territory with some orange peel, grapefruit, light pine and dank notes. Not tropical at all, definitely more on the citrus side of things. Grapefruit rind and peel with some white pepper, sage and other slight herbal/spice characteristics. Somewhat floral (rose, maybe?) as well. Kind of an interesting hop character, but it's also not entirely convincing to me. Maybe too much focus on malt... this is 9.2%, which is kind of crossing over into the "danger zone" for me; it's approaching hoppy barleywine territory, I guess I should say.

On the tongue, it kind of begins with a peppery and floral hop note before bringing out notes of candied grapefruit, orange and some brighter, more unique notes of pineapple. Sweet apricot, pine and perfume-y, floral alcohols come out as well. This is solid on the tongue, but it comes across a little bit too strong, as I suspected from the nose. Interestingly enough, it doesn't taste too malty at all; it's just a bit too hot going down. The feel is medium-heavy with a light-moderate carbonation and rather slick feel. The finish is a bit sweet, but impresses here and there with candied fruit notes and some solid, fleeting floral notes. Not bad.

Many thanks to SawDog505 for this bomber.

A - Pours a nice clear, very rich copper color with a very thick, creamy, generously thick off white lacing ring.

S - Some sweet malt and citrus fruit aroma all blended delicately with pine.

T - Very balanced from start to finish, and in a good way. Piney, some citrus, balanced caramel and ends with a spicy citrus rind.

M - Medium body.

O - This reminds me of the old school Classic East Coast style D-IPA's and miss 'em - this one brings it back. Worth trying!