5 IPAs to remember in this first 5 months

Opening one of so many IPAs and having it in my hand, I will start my new entry, mostly for hopheads like me. I have been here in Amsterdam 5 months, more or less, and I have tasted a lot of beers, specially this extra hoopy ones because they are my favourite style. Counting one per month, I am going to describe the five IPAs that I have liked most here in the Dutch capital. I would like to say that in this list would be the Twisted Kipper, from De Kromme Haring, Ciel-Bleu IPA from Brouwerij't IJ and El Dorado single hop from Brewdog, but as I have described them in other entries, I preferred to look for 3 other good substitutes that, if not so good, as special in their way. I am going to start with the list, which I know is the thing you are waiting for.

1- De Molen Vuur & Vlam: First visit to Bierkoning in February, and I asked for a local good IPA. I remember Alice going up the stairs and showing me De Molen's shelf, with a lot of varieties, and gave me a Vuur & Vlam. Quite modest label, black and white design with the information and few things more. 6,2%, 63 IBUs, the recipe (Galena, Cascade, Chinook, Simcoe and Amarillo for dry-hopping and Pale and Caramel malts), and the bottling date on the back label. About the beer, Red amber colour very beautiful with a white hard crown. Flowery intense aroma, sweet and some sourness kinda citric. Medium body, and intense flavour, fresh hop, sweetness and light acid, grass, some pine and caramel and long hoppy ending without losing too much freshness

QUICK RESUME: I have already repeated. Let's say here you can buy it for 2,1E, and I have my fifth or Sixth in the fridge...

2- Dark Horse Brewing Co. Crooked Tree IPA. This is the other unavoidable one in the list, before talking about substitutes and that. Walking in the shop, I saw it in the US shelf and the label caught my attention, bonsai, blue back... Tasting another IPA is not a hard wok for me, so I put it in the basket. Comes from Marshall, Michigan, and has 6,5%. Besides the design, the alcoholic percentage, the warnings on US bottles, the addres and the deposit, no other data on it (Not even the ingredients or the expiration date). The beer itself is light brown coloured, and a lot of golden foam. Citric aroma, with a sweet point and some toasted bitterness as caramel. Light body citric style hops, very very intense and long, that goes away showing a sweet moment before another hop explosion for the ending.

QUICK RESUME: The repetition is pending. I drank it more or less one month ago, but it wil come back to my fridge.

3- Anderson Valley Heelch O'Hops Double IPA. In this third place, this beer has won two matches to be here. one against El Dorado single hop from brewdog, as I mentioned in the introduction, and another fratricidal battle against her sister, the Imperial IPA. I like Anderson Valley because of the sweet citric flavour they have in all their beers, specially in IPAs, and I decided this one because you can feel that point even better here. Classic label with the name, the horned bear drinking in the river, and the green band for the brand IPAs. 8,7%, quite strong alcoholic percentage, and a description in the back about colour, smell and flavour which I agree, bt anyway I will give mine. Orange shiny beer, copper quite transparent and dense white foam. Fruity aroma as I said, with some balanced points of citric. Medium body, quite light even, but with a very strong citric point in the beginning. As it fades away, it shows some toasted notes, sweet as cocoa to come back to hoppy bitterness in a very long aftertaste.

QUICK RESUME: I will repeat, but it is not the cheapest IPA you can find here.

4- Troubadour Westkust: This can be considered as the first substitute, although it doesn't mean that loses a lot of positions in this entry. From Belgium, pistacchio green label and 9,2% for this Black IPA (Do you understand why I picked it, right?). Local hops, fermentation in the bottle and few interesting more things in a simple but elegant label. The beer was dark, like a porter, but very transparent, as a Coke with a dense golden crown, more elegant even than the label. With that queen looking, her aroma is sweet, caramel and cacao toasted points and light hop. In the mouth, quite dense (The only thing that shows the alcoholic content), with a lot of hop and toasted points from the malts, hiding again the alcohol.

QUICK RESUME: I will repeat when I want to be in a well-known danger. 9,2% is there, hidden but when you finish the glass, appears and says "Hello!!"

5- Fuller's India Pale Ale: This beer was bought for a meal in the park, so I don't have any photos or colour references (until I repeat). Half a litre, because English are very serious people for beering, and less than a pint is unacceptable. The bottle shape is the classical one in the brand, with a bright purple label, some golden details and in white we can find the name and the low 5,3%. As I said, I don't have any colour references, but in the bottle it seemed very transparent and clean. The aroma I caould get by the bottle's neck was British style hoppy, just smooth bitterness. Quite intense flavour, not as we could think, with herbal notes and a citric ending, all this in the classic bitterness from the island.

QUICK RESUME: I will repeat whenI have more barbecues, because the 50cl size is quite good for the meetings, and because I liked that flavour with the raosted meat.


This were my 5 IPAs for my first 5 months. In one way or in the other, each of them are highly recommended if you like hop on top of everything in the beer. See you soon beer lovers, keep beering!