Mikkeller Cascade Single Hop IPA
July 23rd, 2009 beckelToday I have in front of me the creative Mikkeller’s third venture in his single hop series of IPAs. As it is brewed with only Cascade hops it is sure to be a bit more palatable than the previous beers in the series, Simcoe [review] and Warrior [review] as well as the later Nelson Sauvin [review] and Nugget which currently sits in my fridge waiting to be consumed. I find that by the time Mikkeller’s products get to our stores the date on top of the cap tends to have rubbed off at least partially but this bottle is still relatively clearly dated 08/01/11. First off this is one carbonated bottle, upon opening it carbonation immediately shot up the neck of the 11.2 oz bottle and overflowed onto my table. After cleaning up and pouring the bottle there was still plenty carbonation easily creating an entire hand of fluffy white head that dissipated relatively slowly still leaving a large amount of foam on the surface of the beer and a good deal lacing around the glass. Color is an attractive hazy bright reddish hue that is very opaque. I find the aroma quite nice, full of citruses such as orange and largely grapefruit some clean floral notes and a good does of gentle bitterness. Flavor is pretty much what I expected from a Cascade version after consuming Mikkeller’s previous Single Hop IPAs, full of citrus particularly orange and grapefruit enough sweet malt flavors to compliment and emphasize the hops and a solid dose of delicious hoppy bitterness which nicely distracts from the 6.9% ABV. Mouthfeel is smooth and the body is average for the style. Though Cascade is a hop that the American palate is more accustomed to it doesn’t make this any less of a hardcore hop lovers IPA. If you have enjoyed previous beers in this series but are looking for something that contains more clean citrus notes yet is still plenty bitter this is the brew for you. Give it a shot and ride your bike.