Tag Archives: Double IPA

Beer Review: Bohdi – Columbus Brewing Co.

Posted on by
Reply

image

Beer Name: Bohdi 

Brewery: Columbus Brewing Co. (C-bus)
Beer style: Double IPA
ABV: 8.0%
IBU: N/A
Size: 64 oz ($19.50 including growler)
Beer Advocate Score: 96
Ratebeer: 96

DISCLAIMER: If public displays of affection make you a bit queasy, you are going to want to turn away because this is going to get gratuitous!

Early last month I saw this article from Alesheads which took raw ranking data from BeerAdvocate eliminated beers with 10 reviews or less and chose the best from each state. While it may not be the most scientific and all-encompassing way to reach conclusions, it does provide a great spark to get conversations rolling. Anyway this is what it said about Ohio:

Ohio – Columbus Brewing’s Bodhi DIPA: I was thinking Great Lakes would take the Ohio cup with something like their Blackout Stout, but nope…Columbus swooped in for the victory with their big, brash Bodhi. I haven’t had it, but it sounds like a tropical fruit-bowl of goodness.

After reading this I remember taking a break between sips while drinking with BubOhioBeer and saying something like, “I know that I have had Bodhi a while back and I remember liking it, but I don’t remember it blowing me away like some other Ohio beers have.” He agreed, and we proceeded to continue pickling our livers as we are known to do. But the article kept making questions ring out in my head. Could I have been wrong? Was I wasted when I had it? Or did I have a cold? Is it possible that on my search for great Ohio beers I somehow missed the best one in my own backyard? And it turns out that I AM AN IDIOT.

I don’t know exactly how to give this beer justice through a written review, so I will just try and write it as I experienced it. It was poured into a glass out of a tap (I also left with a growler that I drank later); it looked like a frothy tequila sunrise, bright yellow-orange at the top and transitioning to a reddish-orange at the bottom. As I sat for a second admiring the color at arms length, I noticed the slight smell of citrus. I pulled the beer to my nose. What started out as a cool island citrus breeze turned into an F5 tornado ripping through a Floridan orchard. This might be the single best smelling IPA I have ever had, with grapefruit, lemon, orange, tangerine, pineapple, and pine fighting for olfactory receptor real estate, like some fruit[ier] version of Tom Cruise in Far and Away.

So after my my nose was sufficiently colonized, I took a sip. Bodhi starts off with a nice malt sweetness that doesn’t last for long before the hop marches in, covering every inch of my mouth with the same hop flavors noted above, especially the grapefruit. As I swallowed, I felt the bitterness start to take hold and a grapefruit pith bitterness lingered for a bit. There are even some spice notes that can be found if you look for them. Bodhi has a very crisp and light mouthfeel as well.

As I have said before in my posts, one of the marks of a great IPA/DIPA – in my opinion – is that it almost forces you to come back for more; Bohdi might be the best example of this in any beer I have ever had. I drank two pints with dinner while in the pub, and then took a growler of it home (and to be honest, I considered buying two) which my wife and I finished with no problem at all two days later. I don’t know if I can say it’s the best beer I have ever had, as it is tough to rank IPAs with stouts or sours, but I can say it is on the short-list. I usually don’t like to admit when I am wrong but on this, I was very, very wrong; Bodhi is unequivocally a WOW beer.

Ratings

Sessionability: 6-pack. My wife and I polished off a growler on a Tuesday, and were disappointed we didn’t have any more to drink. The 8% isn’t enough to scare you off of this beer.

Overall: 6-pack. Like I said before, this is maybe the best beer I have had from Ohio. I have already given other Ohio brews the 6-pack, so it was kind of inevitable.

Would Best Be Consumed: Right in The-Heart-of-the-Heart-of-it-All: Columbus, Ohio.

Beer Review: Bashah – Collaboration between Stone and Brew Dog

Posted on by
1

Beer Name: Bashah

Brewery: Collaboration between Stone and Brew Dog (Scotland)
Beer style: Black Belgian Style Double IPA
ABV: 8.6%
IBU: Unknown
Size: 11.2oz (U.K.) bottle
Beer Advocate Score: 87
Rate Beer Score: 97

By this point you know it is Collaboration Week. You have probably noticed that Stone Brewery continues to pop up in our collaboration reviews. Stone, based out of California, is one of the more well known craft brewers in the United States. They are able to distribute all over the United States and beyond. Stone has had a great level of success, but still agrees to brew with lesser known breweries across the country. On this particular beer, they brewed across the pond! If I have not swayed you into believing that Stone is uber cool, consider this: Stone released a book with homebrew recipes for some of their best selling beers AND recipes for the most popular dishes in their brew pub. Any brewer could use their book to create a beer and call it their own, but they wouldn’t because as we have been explaining all week, that is not how craft beer works.

Another topic we have addressed is how breweries are willing to try something totally off the wall in the company of their friends. Bashah is off the wall. Black IPAs and Belgian Style IPAs have been growing in popularity, but I do not know of anyone else who has tried to combine them.

Okay, I will get to the review before I run out of beer in my glass. The beer pours like you would expect a Belgian-style anything to pour. A giant fluffy poof of sudsy goodness lingers for a few minutes. It lets off a Cascadian smell. I only got hops on the nose, but the smell was magnificent.  Before you taste this beer, put on your seatbelt because you are in for a wild ride. When it hits your tongue the taste is initially sweet. The taste seems like it may head to a chocolate place because of the solid malt background, but just when your palate is thinking chocolate, the hops hit. Light carbonation delivers a cascade hop assault on your mouth. It finishes bitter and dry like most normal Belgian IPAs. It leaves a sticky lace in the glass with every sip.

Overall this beer is magnificent. I am reviewing batch 357 which was released 12/19/10. I had this beer months ago and I do not remember it being this good; the aging has put it on another level. Anderson’s had more of the same batch that I bought and I highly suggest you procure some in the near to immediate future.

Ratings:

Sessionability: 4-pack. At almost 9% and with the complex character, I doubt you would want more than four at a sitting.

Overall: 6-pack. This is world class. Aged, it is unlike anything else I have tasted.

Would be best consumed: By itself.