Slingin' Ink DIPA
The Virginia Beer Company

Flying high with strong, fruity and herbal IPA, The Virginia Beer Company's neighborly IPA takes this single hop imperial beer to the Strata sphere.

Slingin' Ink is more than just a tribute to Parkway Printshop. It's a fruity and herbal IPA that kicks off milky gold and with a creamy ivory froth. As a scent of tropical fruit, citrus and herb drifts across the nose, it's nearly tangy in its fruit impressions. A medium level of sweetness then coats the tongue with notions of shortcake, honey and cereal in a not toward hazier forms of brewing.

But the Strata hops wake up once the ale hits the middle palate, spreading its taste of passionfruit, lemon, grapefruit and papaya across the tastebuds. Drying as the session endures, additional flavors of white grape, gooseberry and honeydew offer a tangy and juicy character before the ale trails into a late palate of fresh grassiness, herbs and hemp.

Full bodied and straddling the styles of traditional Imperial IPA and hazier IPA, Slingin' Ink finishes malty-dry and residing on the bitter side of bittersweet, the ale carries a botanical gin-like taste into a medium long aftertaste.

Very deep copper color with a dense head. Fair amount of lacing. Nose is pine and dank. Taste has an initial hard bitterness on palate. The bitterness fades a bit across the palate and then disappears quickly. Nice beer.