Bring it

I suppose you have to talk a good game in the highly competitive world of American IPAs. Bigger is better and the punter has to know it. What point even being on the shelves if you're not furious, a titan, the big daddy bringing ruination? And so it is with the good people of Green Flash brewing in San Diego who have dubbed their IPA [minor chord] Palate Wrecker. Hold me.

It's a whopping 9.5% ABV and the hopping process starts at the mashing phase and goes right through. Naturally they claim a bitterness rating of over 100 IBUs.

It burns, but not harshly. There's kind of a pleasant sting as your tongue gets coated in all those hop oils. The bitterness slams into the back of the throat and then wafts up the back of the nose. Probably its best feature is the aroma: a powerful, resinous funk as the hops combine with hot booze.

Mind you, for all its intensity I can't say it really lived up to the name. It wasn't my last beer of the day and I distinctly remember tasting other things after it. Hey Richard, thanks for sharing, but you probably should ask for a refund: goods not as advertised.