The latest canned offering from COOP Ale Works, this Double IPA is brewed with Orange Blossom Honey and has been a huge hit with everyone I’ve talked to that has had it. I recently got to try a nitro version of this as well and it really brought that honey sweetness and mouthfeel out more, but to be honest, it doesn’t need it. JD from COOP had the following to say about this beer:
… the honey actually softens the 100+ IBUs from the copious amount of hops we put into the beer. The 9.1 ABV comes from the malt base. The citra hops contribute significantly to the “juicy” taste of the Alpha Hive.
I was going to say more but typing that made me thirsty. Let’s beer!
Company: COOP Ale Works
Location: Oklahoma City, OK
ABV: 9.1% ABV
IBU: 100+
Style/Description: Double IPA
Price: $10 (4-pack, 16oz cans)
Appearance: Pours deep honey/amber with moderate haze and a creamy, peachy head which doesn’t hang around long. Sticky lacing persists whilst I drink.
Nose: Some light resin with a nice backbone of caramel, honey, and some sweet floral aromas.
Taste: This beer has a fantastic, rich mouthfeel full of honey, pine, citra, and malt. There’s also a nice mango thing hanging out in the background that had me stumped for a while, but as the beer warms it jumps out a bit more. The balance is incredible between the hops, malt, and honey sweetness.
Finish: The balance carries well to the finish which eventually fades leaving traces of floral sweetness, tropical fruit and dark honey. As this guy fades away the hop profile comes out a bit more and really rounds out the experience.
Overall: I have to admit that I sat down to write this beer up, started drinking, and realized I had it almost halfway down before I had written a word. This stuff is damn good and I didn’t want to be distracted by anything else. In my opinion this is the best thing COOP has done (as an ongoing release) in a long time and I can’t wait to see what they do next, this stuff is absolutely great. When thinking about how easy this stuff is to drink, the 9.1% ABV makes this a very dangerous beer as I could easily kill 4 of these without thinking twice.
Rating: 4.5/5
