Bitter IPAs have been trending in the craft beer world for years now, and Millstream Brewing Company co-owner Teresa Albert said the Amana-based brewery is finally heeding customer demand for these hoppier beers by releasing a series of double IPAs.
Bitter End Double IPA will be the first beer to be released as part of Millstream’s Double IPA Series. The beer is dry hopped with Cascade and Amarillo hops; the brewery describes the beer as a “smooth but sinister, brown Double IPA tipping the scales at 105+ IBU’s.” It will appear on stores shelves in early March.
In July, Millstream will release another 100+ IBU double IPA: Hoppy Hour White Double IPA. Dogs on Skis Double IPA, a revised, hoppier version of their black IPA that was first released in 2014, will be available in October.
Millstream customers have been requesting hoppier beers for some time, and Albert said that head brewer Chris Priebe decided he had heard enough.
Breweries, Albert explained, tend to reflect the tastes and personalities of their brewers and owners, and neither she nor Priebe are “hopheads,” which is why Millstream has not focused on hoppier beers. Priebe prefers to please everybody, she said, and Millstream beers appeal to the masses. In recent years, though, Albert said Millstream has left its brewing comfort zone for its Brewmasters’ Extreme Series; releasing hoppy double IPAs was something she felt Millstream needed to do in light of customer demand.
“Our customers are important. If that’s what they want, we’re gonna do it,” she said. “We want people to keep demanding.”
Since each beer in the Double IPA Series will be a different type of double IPA, Albert said the series should serve as a good introduction to the style. However, she pointed out that each beer will be limited-release—they are brewing only 60 barrels (1,860 gallons). “When it is gone, it’s gone,” she said. Whether or not any of the beers are brewed again, or even if the series continues past 2015, will depend on their popularity and interest in the style.
