Avery - DuganA IPA

Tonight I'm reviewing an IPA that Duns reviewed back in January.  I should have known that he had reviewed this one already.  It's an IPA... what IPA available in the Midwest hasn't he reviewed?!  I think the fact that two of us run this blog warrants the need for two opinions anyway.  Heck, it's the reason we love hearing from our readers!  We love to hear your opinions about the beers we review.  The community around the craft beer world is half the reason we drink craft beer.  The other half is because it tastes so damn delicious.

We have a bit of an affinity for Avery here at The World of  BeerCraft.  If you check out the Review Archive you will notice that Avery garnered the most reviews out of any other brewery you will find on this site with 12 reviews.  Tonight's will make 13, putting Avery two reviews past Sierra Nevada and Summit.  Surprisingly enough, we have had a pretty hard time finding a beer we didn't like from Avery.  They brew a quality product, consistently and on a large scale.  That's something that any beer drinker can respect.

DuganA IPA's bottle has changed a bit since Duns reviewed it earlier this year.  The barely dressed hot Indian woman still graces this label (thank you Avery) but the name has moved to the middle making the overall appearance a little cleaner in my opinion.  Nice aesthetic update.

This brew is light orange in color, crystal clear and leaves a very thin white head.  The aroma is potent!  I could smell it from a few feet away after I filled up my pint.  Lots of earthy, sticky hop aromas with pine, citrus and mint as the primary players.  Hints of caramel elbow their way through the hop crowd to make its presence known.  The first sip is a bit on the boozy side.  Luckily this aspect quickly recedes after letting it warm up a but.  A prominent and relentless hop bitterness absolutely assaults your pallet.  It's almost on the verge of too hoppy.  Some caramel and malt characteristics come through to provide a welcome relief and balance from the hop warfare currently taking place in my mouth.  As this brew warms further the bitterness gives way to a nice fruity bouquet of orange zest and grapefruit primarily.

Overall - At first, I had my hesitations.  But as this IPA warmed it turned into a different beer.  The hop bitterness became more subtle and the citrusy and malty body came through to give a nice complex profile.  I'm still a bit put off by the alcohol heat, but at 8.5% ABV it's something to be expected.  This certainly isn't my favorite IPA, but it is worthy of a purchase if you are a hop head like Duns.