Review: IPAs of Wicked Weed: Pernicious, Perni-Haze, and Freak of Nature

We’ve tasted a lot of beers from Wicked Weed Brewing, but somehow it seems we’ve avoided some of their most straightforward offerings. Today we’re taking a look at three different India Pale Ales from the brewery, all available year-round.

Wicked Weed Pernicious IPA – If there was a flagship IPA among all of Wicked Weed’s IPAs, Pernicious would probably be it. Brewed with California ale yeast and a long list of New Zealand, Australian, and American hops, it pours an almost hazy straw color with a fluffy, snow-white head. The aroma is dry but not overly hoppy with a delicate complexity. Notes of grape must, lemon oil, cooked malt, and cut grass are bright and engaging. The palate is where the hops have really found a home. It’s piney and resinous yet still fresh and round with minimal bitterness. Notes of lemon peel, grapefruit rind, and bready malts make for an experience not quite as complex as the nose lets on but enjoyable and well-balanced, nevertheless. The finish is clean and dry with more malt and lingering, piquant hop notes. A classic IPA. 7.3% abv. A-

Wicked Weed Perni-Haze Hazy IPA – This IPA is made with Citra and Simcoe hops, and although it’s classified as hazy, it doesn’t appear any hazier than Pernicious, pouring the same cloudy straw color but with perhaps a lighter head. The aroma is sweet with rock candy, fruity bubblegum, and a bit of underlying, yeasty funk. The palate is less sweet than all of that suggests, with bready top notes of poppyseed muffin followed by honeycomb and citrus peel. It’s a fuller mouthfeel than Pernicious with less of a pointed, resinous hop profile. A touch creamy on the finish, it lingers with notes of pine and grapefruit pulp. 6.9% abv. A-

Wicked Weed Freak of Nature Double IPA – Brewed with California ale yeast and seven different hops, this IPA pours the clearest of the three with a polished gold color and ample carbonation that leaves behind a nice lacing in the glass. The aroma is dense with citrus notes – grapefruit, tangerine, and navel orange – and framed with a slight, sweet dankness and fresh malts. The palate is round and very well-balanced — not nearly as sweet or intense as so many Double IPAs — with a roasted malt foundation and silky top notes of grapefruit peel, ginger root, and underripe pineapple. The hops deliver an easy, back of the tongue bitterness that carries evenly into a generous finish of pine and toffee. A big, balanced, flavorful Double IPA that drinks almost too easily. 8.5% abv. A

each $14 per six-pack / wickedweedbrewing.com

The post Review: IPAs of Wicked Weed: Pernicious, Perni-Haze, and Freak of Nature appeared first on Drinkhacker: The Insider’s Guide to Good Drinking.