DRAFT Magazine

This past weekend I was fortunate to be selected to judge at the 10th Annual Bistro Double IPA Festival in Hayward, California (just south of the Bay). This is the second year judging for me and I was a whole lot more comfortable with the task at hand (i.e. choosing the best double IPA). That said, this year was more difficult than last year. The reason? The competition has gotten a lot tighter.

Downstairs at the Bistro where the judging occurred there were nearly 40 pitchers of double IPA on the table. Looking at them, I noticed they were a lot more similar in color and overall appearance than 12 months ago The pitchers were filled with beer that was mostly light gold with sticky white crowns. As each brew was evaluated, it didn’t take long to notice a bunch of them had impressive fresh hop aromas — some dank, some bright, some fruity, and others a combination.

Tasting was the tough part. Sure, there were a number of beers that we knew right off weren’t going to make the cut. In fact, the eight judges seated for the preliminary round sent only one-quarter of the beers to the final round (only… I know). We only considered what we thought were contenders for the best overall beer, but our work was only just getting started.

For the final round we brought in a few more judges to help with the heavy lifting. Each judge poured nine samples in a numbered glass, the pencils were pressed to paper, and the evaluations began. It became clear quickly that choosing a winner would be difficult. One beer had a stellar aroma, while the next had more flavor, and the third a divine body and texture. Smell. Taste. Write. Repeat.

Just how close were these beers? When it was all said and done we each ranked our top four, assigning number values for each rank. We tallied the numbers and discovered there was ONE point separating the top two beers. Want to know how good the top four were? Consider that No. 4 was none other than the much-celebrated Pliny the Elder by Russian River.

Of course I didn’t know what beers we had downstairs till hours later. In fact, when I was asked to guess on the top beer I could only think it must have been Pliny. The aroma, appearance, body, and flavors were all so similar. Of the top four double IPAs of the day, all were light gold, wonderfully aromatic, with big base malt sweetness, incredible fresh/bright hop flavors, and a dry finish. It wasn’t long ago that this wasn’t true, and for some, this may seem like a step in the wrong direction (many people would like to see more color, bigger bodies, and increased balance in their double IPA). Regardless of interpretation, it is intriguing to know that the quality in brewing is improving across the board, that there is no longer a clear and easy winner and that, perhaps, our elite craft brewers have forced those around them to improve as well.

The Winners
1st – Poor Mans IPA by Pizza Port
2nd – IIMAXX by Triple Rock
3rd – Apex by Bear Republic
4th – Pliny the Elder by Russian River

Pictures

Bistro owners Vic and Cynthia (right) hanging out with friends

Brewers Bill Wood formerly with Elk Grove Brewing now at Auburn Alehouse (left), Denise Jones of Moylan’s (center) and Brian Ford of Auburn Alehouse (right)

Vinnie and Guy of Russian River sporting the People’s Choice Award

Triple Rock Brewer with his silver medal

Sam of Dogfish Head flew out for the event

Sam is a rock star - signing autographs

Todd Ashman of FiftyFifty Brewing

Crowd inside the Bistro

Crowd outside the Bistro

Jeremy Cowan of Shmaltz / He’Brew

Brian Ford

Lovely beer

Tom Daldorf of Celebrator - there’s a story about the sticker, really

The Beer Chef (right) talking with Phil Lowry from BeerMerchants.com

Folks from Toronado (Betsy, left), Oskar Blues (Meg, middle) and Shmaltz (Zack, right)