Right here’s a zinger for you: How will you presumably brew a beer that respects one of the influential American craft beers of all time but stands out by itself? That’s the problem Oskar Blues confronted this 12 months when Dale’s Pale Ale celebrated its twentieth anniversary. In 2002, Oskar Blues Brewery Founder Dale Katechis caught up a center finger to the business when he put Dale’s Pale Ale in a can. Taboo on the time, cans are actually ubiquitous due to Katechis’ rebellious choice. To commemorate the legendary beer, Oskar Blues needed to discover a approach to as soon as once more flip the hen, if you’ll. Launched earlier this 12 months, Double Dale’s Imperial IPA offers a nod to the unique Dale’s after which does a double take.
Double Dale’s doesn’t search to be higher, however quite to be totally different.
“It’s not possible to enhance upon such a traditional recipe, so we went in a barely totally different course with Double Dale’s,” says Oskar Blues Head Brewer Juice Drapeau, who helped develop the recipe for Double Dale’s. “Double Dale’s captures a few of the citrus and caramel character of Dale’s, whereas attaining its personal distinctive taste profile and id. We wished to create one thing new and recent that will reside as much as the legacy Dale’s Pale Ale created—most significantly being a boundary-stomping, hopped-up beer.”
No straightforward activity.
However then once more, Oskar Blues has by no means taken the trail properly traveled. This daring, badass brewery has all the time bucked conference. Whether or not by placing Dale’s Pale Ale in a can. Or crafting its personal Scotch ale, Outdated Chub. Or brewing the boundary-breaking Ten FIDY imperial stout (FIDY stands for “Fuck the Business, Do it Your self.”)
Now, Double Dale’s will stand tall on the shelf (actually—it’s accessible in single-serve 19.2oz together with 12oz cans) subsequent to Oskar Blues’ different revolutionary beers.
How Do You Brew a Beer That Does a Double Tackle a Basic?
Name this a dare (or a double canine dare) Oskar Blues plunged into head first.
“We wished to department off the success of Dale’s Pale Ale however supply one thing totally different,” says Drapeau.
So the brewing workforce, led by Drapeau, created an entire new recipe with influences from the unique Dale’s.
Keying in on a few of these citrus, berry, fruity notes iconic to Dale’s, Drapeau says they took issues one step additional, selecting a dry hop that accentuated these drinkable traits of Dale’s Pale Ale to the nth diploma.
That includes a dry hop of El Dorado, Talus, and Nelson, Double Dale’s hits “a bit extra tropical, citrus ahead however on the again finish has pineyness that folks relate to conventional Dale’s Pale Ale with out being so resinous,” says Sara Laurienti, Director of Brewery Operations for Oskar Blues,
However each Drapeau and Laurienti made this very clear: Double Dale’s isn’t only a scaled, amped-up model of Dale’s.
Somewhat, the beer is its personal daring beast. A fruits of every little thing Oskar Blues has discovered about brewing a profitable IPA wrapped up inside a can. Fairly, becoming we’d say.
So if imitation is the sincerest type of flattery, Double Dale’s isn’t shopping for it. As a result of make no mistake, Double Dale’s stands by itself as a, anticipate it…drinkable 9% ABV beer.
Double Dale’s: Reaching the Smoothest 9% ABV Imperial IPA
To actually set Double Dale’s aside, Drapeau says Oskar Blues targeted on making this imperial IPA extremely drinkable.
“I’ve spent a lot time engaged on what’s the new hazy…that it was nice to simply make a very targeted beer,” says Drapeau.
Contemplate this a nonconformist transfer Oskar Blues has perfected—taking the traditional and hanging a discordant chord that also sounds harmonious.
“Though with this beer it’s a must to be careful for the ABV, it doesn’t fill you up fairly as a lot as a double, imperial, and even often Dale’s Pale Ale does,” says Laurienti with a sly smile. “It’s a double and better ABV, however it’s perceived typically as extra drinkable than Dale’s.”
Very difficult, Oskar Blues, very difficult!
And this beer did show fairly difficult to brew.
“Constructing a dry, crisp 9% imperial IPA is just not the simplest factor,” says Drapeau. With the intention to obtain the drinkability, Drapeau needed to get artistic with the malt invoice.
A mixture of steamed crystal, Crystal 10, and Particular B all work in tandem to impart a “good, beautiful orange reddish hue within the beer with out overloading it with these medium Crystal malts that depart residual sweetness in beers,” says Drapeua. The sunshine malts give Double Dale’s its distinctive hue with out imparting a ton of unfermentable sugars.
The end result?
A beer that’s a easy operator with a sneaky excessive ABV.
It’s simply one of many many cautious concerns Drapeau and Laurienti needed to make when creating this recipe.
Even the Water in Double Dale’s Will get a Double Dose
Intentionality in each step of the brewing course of has been the important thing to Double Dale’s.
From the hops to the malts to even the water.
“This one has one among our extra difficult water recipes,” says Laurienti. “A majority of our beers simply have two to 3 totally different brewing salts going within the mash—this one has six.”
Drapeau explains that Colorado water is so clear that Oskar Blues usually has so as to add issues to it to provide it the vitamins it wants to realize a sure minerality.
Right here, the brewing salts created a brand new mineral-forward home mix of H2O that gives a supporting spine to the caramel-driven malt invoice and distinctive piney, fruity hops.
All of it comes collectively within the can or the glass to kind one epic crusher.
Tasting By means of Double Dale’s
You’ll be able to actually see the onerous work that went into Double Dale’s as quickly because it begins pouring into the glass. “For me, look is one among my favourite issues with beer,” says Laurienti. “This beer has a really slight hop haze in it however extra low luminescence versus that thick, can’t-see-through-it haze.”
That stunning orange, reddish hue from the specifically chosen malt invoice instantly shines by means of.
On the nostril, Double Dale’s has “aromas of lemon, grapefruit, and people citrus facets in addition to some tropical hop notes like mango, pineapple, papaya, additionally some peach and pink apple,” says Drapeau.
Take a primary sip of this beer and the true complexity begins to unfold like a blooming flower. “With a pleasant, sturdy supportive malt invoice, you get biscuit, breakfast cereal, mild bread notes, lemongrass, and geranium,” says Drapeau. It’s these latter floral notes that add a layer of complexity to this beer. And Drapeau attributes these to the distinctive dry hop mixture together with the lighter crystal malts within the beer.
“For me personally, quite a lot of the opposite flavors are simpler to detect, however for that floral side it’s onerous to dig into these rose hip aromas,” says Drapeau. “That descriptor reveals the variety of this beer.”
Double Dale’s actually takes your style buds on a wild experience. And to be trustworthy, that’s just about been true to kind for this revolutionary twenty-five-year-old brewery. Every step of the way in which, Oskar Blues has left a footprint, stomping their means ahead.
What Does Double Dale’s Imply to Oskar Blues?
“To me, that is us nonetheless holding onto our roots and being true to who we’re,” says Laurienti, noting that most of the of us who designed Double Dale’s have been with the brewery anyplace from eight to fifteen years.
A thirteen-year veteran himself, Drapeau says that, “We take pleasure in staying revolutionary and with the time, specializing in different beer kinds which might be trending, but in addition in brewing one thing very clear and really properly performed that faucets into the place the corporate got here from—sturdy and hoppy.”
He recollects how Oskar Blues Brewery Founder Dale Katechis likes to ask: “How a lot alcohol can we put in a beer in a can to f*** with folks?”
And that’s Double Dale’s to a T.
“There are center fingers everywhere,” laughs Drapeau.
The place Can I Discover Double Dale’s?
Double Dale’s Imperial IPA is offered now nationwide in single-serve 19.2oz cans, in 6-packs of 12oz. cans, and on draft. Discover Double Dale’s IPA close to you through the Oskar Blues BeerFinder.
