Storm King used to be pretty easy to find in LA. Been a good number of years since I had any, but I remember it as a big, burly, hoppy beast, not too sweet. A fan of Old Rasputin would probably get along with Storm King just fine.
Yeah, I was thinking about Mikkeler's 1000 ibu ipa when I saw that previous post, but turns out that was released back in 2010 or 2011 I think.
Added to BA in March 2010. I seem to recall reading that PtE's bitterness was estimated at ~130IBU at one point, and people seem to like it just fine. Estimated IBUs are very different from measured IBUs.
There are definitely some dudes around here that can back this up with science, but it's really hard to get to a measured 100IBUs, and it seems like it takes a lot more than just throwing a ton of hops into the kettle.
Yes, there is a saturation limit to how much iso-alpha acid can be present in beer. From the Oxford Companion of Beer: “Beers can range from 1 to about 100 IBUs. The saturation point of iso-alpha acid in beer is approximately 110 IBUs.” https://www.beerandbrewing.com/dictionary/VDyprkuB8N I have read in the past that Founders in their lab measured Devil Dancer to have 112 IBUs. Cheers! P.S. There is also a matter of Perceived Bitterness vs. measured IBUs but that is a topic for another day.
Pliny the Elder is an ever-evolving recipe but in the past Vinnie Cilurzo says it is 90-95 IBUs from the lab. Cheers!
Victory Brewing feels strange to me now. I have fond memories of drinking it when I lived in PA, and when I moved to Colorado, I was thrilled to find their beers, especially Helios, which I stocked up on before it was discontinued. Then came the rebrand, and most of their lineup disappeared. Now that I’m back in Pittsburgh, all I ever see is the Monkey series. Anything else, like Prima Pils, is hard to find fresh and often near or past its best by date. It’s sad to see such a great brewery reduced to a Monkey gimmick. I hope people still get a chance to enjoy beers like Storm King.
I live in the suburbs of Philadelphia and the Victory beer scene here is very different as compared to Pittsburgh. For example I have purchased two six-packs of Prima Pils in the past couple/few months and those beers were very fresh. It does seem that elsewhere Victory is mostly distributing Monkey type beers (FWIW I am a fan of the 'regular' Monkey: Golden Monkey). Maybe an artifact that all of the Wholesale Distributors elsewhere (i.e., not local to the brewery) want is the Monkey beers since they sell/move well? Cheers! P.S. I can also readily find fresh Hop Devil at my local beer retailers. A nice change-up to drink an old school/balanced East Coast IPA.
Even though a lot of the variants are frooted/sour, it’s kind of impressive to see a brewery survive its distribution footprint mostly because of a Belgian style Tripel in today’s market.
@jonphisher I finally saw (and grabbed) a six of Storm King at my local Wegmans today. Excited to have it again! As to the poster above, our Victory distro is also getting spotty other than all the Monkey variants. Until recentI could always at least get fresh Prima, which is one of my favorites but I don’t see it anywhere now.
