Evil Twin Brewing Co. - "Every Day, Once a Day, Give Yourself an IPA"

I'm sure you've come across Evil Twin Brewing Company before - they're a prolific brewer, producing a wide variety of beers in either four-packs of 16oz pint cans, kegs, or less commonly, 22oz bottles. Originally started as a gypsy brewery in Denmark, they have been steadily expanding and earlier this year opened a brewing facility in the Ridgewood neighborhood of Queens. This month are slated to open a taproom, as well.

Today's post focuses on a 9.00% ABV India pale ale called "Every Day, Once A Day, Give Yourself an IPA". I love the name - this is sound advice, totally logical, and I completely agree.

So let's dig in - this is a double dry-hopped IPA made with lactose and vanilla extract. Double dry hopping is a process by which dried hops are added directly to the brewing process, often during the secondary fermentation stage. Since the hops are not boiled, this process does not add bitterness, only hop flavor. The lactose in here is a major component as well - it's going to give the beer body and will turn out milky and soft and creamy.

Not much aroma, oddly - there's a touch of hop aroma, but nothing major.

Soft and mild up front, orange is most dominant flavor in the beer, with notes of rose hips, lemon, and vanilla coming in as the beer develops. It's actually heavy and sweet on the end, with a thick texture, not lush - sort of off-dry. The lemon makes a second appearance as the beer finishes, but this time it's coupled with a very peculiar taste, and it took me about a week to figure out just what it was.

Have you ever had the Goetze's caramel cremes? The brown ones with the white center? This beer is strongly evoking those especially the white center flavors - that dry, slightly chewy, concentrated vanilla milk sugar. I really like this - a great vanilla flavor without any overly-sweet extract notes. Very cool and a great throwback to when I was a kid and my mom used to get me a pack of those cream things after summer camp.

A soft and silky IPA, I recommend this for anyone interested in a full-flavored yet not bitter IPA - or better yet, for someone who claims they "don't like IPAs."