When The Crafty Pint was over in the US in March, there was plenty of hype around Stone Brewing's Enjoy By Double IPA, a new release from the Californians that is sent out as fresh as possible with the date before which it must be drunk emblazoned across it. The result is an impeccably fresh hop bomb of a beer in which the hop characteristics don't have time to taper off. The day before returning, we had another IPA - Maine's Lunch - recommended to us that, again, comes with a tight best before date for the same reasons (we managed to drink ours 13 days after it was released in a different hemisphere from where it was released which must be some sort of record).
The point of this preamble isn't to gloat (much) but to make the point that there's a rising tide of awareness that some beers - particularly massively hopped IPAs - really are drunk best fresh. Yes, they might take on different characteristics later on, but not the ones the brewers want you to experience. Hence the latest venture from Feral for this new batch of their Imperial IPA Tusk. It's the first time it's been brewed in a few years and is the biggest brother of their line of US-inspired hoppy pales. The few kegs that have been brewed have only been granted to venues who have guaranteed that there will be cold refrigerated transport from brewery to bar and that it will be tapped the instant it arrives. As the brewery's Steve Finney told us: "Northwest USA style IPAs need to be fresh to taste best." FInd out for yourself when the Tusk lands near you soon...
Published April 26, 2013 2013-04-26 00:00:00
