Solitary Series - Imperial IPA (Kolsch Yeast)
Watts Brewing Company

For this summer’s Soiltary Series release, we take it lighter and brighter than we’ve gone before with a Kölsch-fermented double IPA. While most of our IPA’s use a clean American ale yeast with new-school tropical and citrus hops, we flip the script with more piney and floral hops and pulling the fruit character from the yeast.

Our Kölsch yeast works it’s magic in a hoppy beer by transforming the resiny hop oils into tropical fruit flavors. In a lighter beer, we get a fairly clean fermentation with subtle notes of white grape and banana. However in a much bigger beer like this one, loaded up with hops, it creates a pineapple kind of flavor that is distinct from anything we’ve ever tasted in a hop.

We then dry hopped with a hefty dose of Simcoe, Ahtanum and Ekuanot, loosely inspired by the hop bill in The Leafcutter. Together these varieties give a lush floral and pine aroma that provides a counterpoint to the fruity fermentation. The small dose of Waimea acts like the Dude’s rug, and really ties the beer together.

We are celebrating this beer with a release party at The Hop and Hound on Wednesday, August 27th from 5 to 8 pm. Stop in and have a beer with us!