Boulevard Brewing Company - Double-Wide IPA

Hope you're all enjoying your Sunday. Just finished cleaning up after dinner and decided to crack open something new in the fridge. Actually forgot I had this one in my fridge door so I figured it's probably a good time to see how it tastes.

So tonight I'm drinking another offering from Boulevard's Smokestack Series, their Double-Wide IPA. This one comes in at 8.5% abv and according to the label is twister proof! Ok, I sort of doubt that, but this does actually say it's twister proof. In fact, it says to relax! So, I'm going to relax and see how Double Wide compares to some of the other IPA I've been drinking recently. Let's get into this one.

I popped the cork on the Double Wide to a very loud pop and a lot of smoke coming from the glass. This poured out into a MASSIVE 4 finger, extremely fluffy and billowy, bright white head. There's a really nice amount of carbonation streaming up from the middle of the glass. The head sticks around for a very long time and once dissipated, leaves behind a very sticky, white wash looking lacing. Double Wide looks like a pretty standard IPA with the exception of that massive head. Let's get the nose.

First thing I get is a big waft of Peach. Just fresh peach, sticky peach, sugary peach syrup. Just peaches. There's a bit of a caramel note here and what I can only describe as a sugar cookie type of sweetness. I'm also getting some sweet grapefruit, maybe even some raisin like character. Definitely smells a bit different than any IPA I've had in a while. Not picking up a lot of bitterness. Just mostly sweet peach, caramel and just a hint of grapefruit.

Right away I'm picking up some of that caramel. It's very creamy, smooth, and like I got on the nose, very sweet. That's immediately followed by that peach sweetness. It's syrupy. Sides of the palate is more of that peach, a bit of that grapefruit. Interestingly enough, I'm getting quite a bit of plum in the middle of the mouth. Maybe even a green apple like character. It's not tart but surprisingly very sweet. Definitely an enjoyable change of pace. Back end Double-Wide is a little boozy. I'm picking up a hint of alcohol on the back of the palate. Doesn't really drink like an IPA honestly. Not much bitterness anywhere in the mouth.

Overall, this is a pretty decent beer. Definitely different than any of the other IPA I've had in the last month or two. To me, this doesn't drink like an IPA at all. I'm not really sure how to classify this. It's good but I was hoping for more bitterness. I don't think this is the freshest bottle so some of that hop bitterness most likely has faded away. I'd say this is worth a try if you can get it. Definitely a nice beer to relax to and sort of unwind after a busy day. 

Rating: B