Big Daddy IPA
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(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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Prohibition has long since been repealed, so the only password you’ll need to access tonight’s beer is the birth date on your driver’s license. Even so, I can definitively report those peephole eyes on the bottle neck can make you paranoid.
Especially when you open the fridge for a midnight snack — Big Brother has the night off, so Big Daddy is watching!
Speakeasy Ales & Lagers is the second largest brewery in San Francisco (behind Anchor), and they’ve created a fairly easy-going, hoppy brew with Big Daddy IPA.
The Speakeasy website describes Big Daddy as:
No lightweight, Big Daddy I.P.A. tips the scales with a huge hop flavor and a dry, clean finish that leaves the scene without a trace.
Lightweight or not, the beer poured surprisingly light-colored. (Judging from the pictures on the Speakeasy website, their Pale Ale is darker than their IPA.) It had a yellowish, golden hue — somewhere between muddy straw and honey. The beer itself was fairly hazy and created a sizeable, persistent foamy white head.
The aroma was malty, sweet vanilla with a just a hint of citrus and floral hops. As hesitantly as they appeared in the aroma, those hops quickly came out of hiding with the first sip — herbal, papery, some citrus — and were balanced by a fair amount of grainy maltiness and a hint of sweetness. As I swallowed, Big Daddy mellowed into a grainy, bitter tea a pleasing, dry finish.
Hop and malt balance shifted slightly as I drank. The dominant hops faded after a few sips, but they never quite gave in to that grainy, almost-sweet malt. And yet by the final third of the glass, those hops had built up a bitter aftertaste that lingered pleasantly and gave the beer some much needed character.
This IPA reminded me a lot of Lakefront IPA in the sense that both are mellow, easy to drink, and on the mark. These are good beers to enjoy with food, with friends, and with time to enjoy more than one.
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