Pile Driver
Olds College Teaching Brewery

 

 

Appearance - Pours a deep amber/copper with four fingers of frothy off-white head.

Smell - Citrus and light piney hops, hint of pine resin, bready malts with a touch of caramel, citrus peel.

Taste - Surprised to be hit upfront with the bready caramel malts, then follows along with the citrus and pine hop character. Citrus peel and pine resin also present.

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied with moderated carbonation. Slight chewiness and stickiness. Finishes more on the malt side, but there are still hops in the aftertaste.

Overall - A DIPA that surprised me with its malt-forward attitude - there is still hop bitterness, but I was expecting that to be at the forefront. Appearance is fantastic with a rich deep colour and good head retention.

Lightly hazy, copper, white head, decent retention
Extremely muted aroma, grainy/coppery, bizarre
Clean ferment, bready grainy malt, high bitterness with almost no hop flavor at all. Toffee, bready, metallic, what a mess.
If this is a DIPA, its the least hoppy one I've had in 10 years
This beer was created by a recipe instructor at a brewing college

650ml bottle - the most recent offering from this brewing teaching operation in Central Alberta. Gonna flip on some classic Quiet Riot: "I'm an axe grinder, pile driver, Mama says that I never, never mind her...".

This beer pours a slightly hazy, medium copper amber colour, with three fingers of puffy, loosely foamy, and bubbly ecru head, which leaves a bit of volcanic island profile lace around the glass as it quickly sinks away.

It smells of semi-sweet, bready and doughy caramel malt, a lesser biscuity toffee thing, some mango and papaya tropical fruitiness, more mundane orange and red grapefruit citrusy notes, and a heady leafy, weedy, and piney green hop bitterness. The taste is gritty and bready caramel malt, those toffee candies that Grandpa always has ready at the hand, mixed and matched exotic and domestic citrus fruity essences, and more musty, piney, and gently perfumed floral verdant hoppiness.

The carbonation is fairly active in its palate-supporting frothiness, the body a solid middleweight, and mostly smooth, the hops somehow not stepping on anyone's toes at this particular juncture. It finishes off-dry, the big malt, big fruit, and big hop bitters showing no sign of waning, as such.

Overall, this is indeed a very engaging and enjoyable version of the style, the hops employed definitely of the New World, tropical-forward sort. The 18-proof booze quotient does well to keep to itself, which further adds to the increasing appeal. Good, good stuff, Olds College - you are in no danger of being overrated, even if ya really wanna be!