Beer Review: Double Platinum

Today we discuss another beer club brew -- Starr Hill Double Platinum. The Charlottesville, Va brewer just recently began distribution to PA so I have almost no experience with them. The only other beer I have had from them is their Jomo Lager which was pretty standard but almost expectedly so. That being said, I am always up for trying something new, especially in the IPA family.

Starr Hill Double Platinum - 8.5% ABV

Imperial IPA

Rotating Availability

12oz bottle poured into a pint glass

Bottled 10/11/12 (pretty cool, right?)

Appearance - Amber with a thin white head. Decent retention and great lacing.

Aroma - Lots of hops, very citrusy -- grapefruit, oranges

Taste - Flavor is nice. Lots of hops but with some balance. Oranges, grapefruit and a good bitterness that lingers beyond the finish.

Mouthfeel - Medium body, average carbonation and a bit of a tingle from the hops.

Overall - I'm not going to lie, my inner beer snob came out a bit and I was a little leery when I saw that it was a twist off cap, but I'm glad I reserved any true judgement until after tasting. This was a really nice beer, good hop flavors and a great hoppy nose. This is why beer club is so perfect, who knows when I would have had this otherwise? It's possible this could be even better a little closer to the bottling date, but I was very satisfied with this one. 

Overall 3.5/5 Style 3/5

Just a little additional anecdote, one thing that was tough for me about this one is it's classification as an Imperial IPA. With boundaries constantly being pushed and styles always evolving I think it may be time to expand the IPA and Stout categories specifically by creating a third tier. Meaning their should be IPA, Imperial IPA and Double Imperial IPA or something to that effect. I plan on doing a bit of research about this and putting up my argument sometime in the near future. Until then

Drink On,

Dan