Well apparently I haven’t been able to do one a day. I guess that was a little ambitious given that it was a long weekend and I was travelling. As well this week is a crazy work week so I would not expect to be able to post much until it’s over. So, this post will have to carry you through.
Today’s Brews Brothers Beer is called “Stone Crazy” and it’s an Imperial India Pale Ale done in collaboration with Powell Street Brewery. I’ve already gone over who Parallel 49 Brewing Co is and I’ll just take this moment to thank them for their great mixer pack. You’ve brought together a great pack of collaborative beers. So, who is Powell Street then?
Powell Street Brewery is aptly located on Powell Street in Vancouver BC. They don’t post a lot of details about their brewery on their website in respect to who founded it and why. What they do tell us is that they are a 4500 sq ft brewery capable of 17.5hl micro brewhouse with a 3.5hl nano brewhouse as well.
They sell a number of different beers ranging from Pale Ales to Porters and do growler fills, glasses and bombers right out of the brewery, something I hope we will be able to see more of here in Winnipeg. The beer that they’ve done in collaboration is named Stone Crazy. This entire pack is blues themed and this name comes from the song Stone Crazy by Buddy Guy with his soulful guitar rhythms and voice this beer really captures the smooth and soulful feel of this song.
Essentially what we have here in an Imperial IPA is a double IPA. The names are fairly synonymous. The term Imperial tends to come from the Russian Imperial Stout, a style of strong stout that was originally brewed in England for the Russian Imperial Court. Double IPA tends to be the most common/preferred term and essentially indicates that you have an incredibly hoppy beer on your hands with high alcohol content and good robust malty balance. IBU on these beers tend to range from 50-120 (although 90+ it’s hard to tell the difference) depending on the brewer. Let’s get to the beer!
Appearance: Cloudy golden brown coloring with a good 1” head that retains well. Some sediment at the bottom that needed to be left behind.
Smell: Hoppy, citrus (pineapple at the front with some lemon and some orange) with some sweetness coming through on the backend from malt (some caramel notes).
Taste: Not as big and bold on the hops but not necessarily a bad thing. The hops are definitely there with the sweetness of the malt backbone bringing in some caramel notes to give this particular Imperial IPA a smooth and well balanced taste. The hops bring in their resinous citrus tones to blend in with that caramel malt to give you a dangerously easy to drink 9% ABV beer.
Mouth feel: Good mild carbonation with a smooth mouth feel.
Overall: Nice and smooth double IPA. Alcohol content is at 9% but not noticeable in this beer. Sweetness is great to and blends well with the hops which don’t assault the taste buds letting you enjoy all the complexity in this beer. Overall a very strong double IPA.
Do I like it: Yep. Big fan of this one. I love IPAs and this one is well balanced and smooth giving a drinkable double IPA that brings some nice hop bitterness that isn’t overpowering. Very tasty.
Beer Winnipeg 
