Double Rail IPA
Twisted Rail Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

This beer was served on tap at Twisted Rail Brewing Company in Canandaigua, New York. It arrived in a flare house tasting glass, showing a golden pumpkin coloring. It held a two finger head of sticky, cakey pancake colored bubbles, showing excellent retention. Lacing to follow was sheeted and unbroken. No haze or sediment was noted, and carbonation appeared to be active. The nose filled with notes of bright grassy hop resins, sweet and juicy honeydew melon, nectarine and apricot fruitiness, sticky teriyaki sauce, buttered wheat toast, wood lacquer, black peppery booziness, rich caramel and pale malt toast, powdery metallic ale yeastiness, bittered walnut shells, cotton swabs, white rice, and chemical shoe polish bite. Taste was a blend of that same big melon sweetness from the nose, with biting hair dye chemicals, plastics phenols, more nectary and citric hoppy heaviness, drying pale malt toast, sweatier and roastier caramel grain, honey sugars, bubble wrap plastics, lemon peel and candied tangerines, chalked yeastiness, plantains, and white table crackers. The body was medium to full, and the carbonation was on the active side. Each sip gave hearty slurp, smack, cream, froth, and pop. The mouth is left with a heavy chalk burden, drying it significantly, and offering up a bit of a puck at the edges. The abv was appropriate, and drinkability was quite nice.

Overall, this is certainly in contention for our favorite Twisted Rail beer!! From the look, down to the nuanced mouthfeel, it hit every stylistic highpoint it needed to. The hops showed nice duality from the nose to the taste, moving from intensely sticky and grassy, to warmed, sweeter nectary and citric varietals, respectively. The foam feel also helped to add legitimacy to the beer, making it pop more from the start. To nitpick out a negative, this beer did tend towards the adjuncty, chemically side more so than many DIPAs out there. This took a bit from authenticity, and you felt yourself trying to make up for it in your mind. This was our last beer of the day, and we are happy it was this one, as it left us looking hopefully towards our next visit to Twisted Rail Brewing Company. We can’t wait to see what they’ve got in store.