Hop Devil and Urthel Hop-It

The history behind India Pale Ales (IPAs) is long and fascinating, and are of particular interest to hopheads like myself. Originally brewed in India in the 1700s, these IPAs were shipped by boat to England. Since they didn't have refrigeration, they needed some alternative to keeping the beers from spoiling. Their solution was hops and alcohol, which both prevent microbial growth. Since then, IPA breweries left India, set up shop in England, withered and almost disappeared, and then experienced a resurgence in the USA.

The Dogfish Head IPAs discussed last week are the extreme result of IPA development in the United States, being referred to as American Double or Imperial IPAs. More common, and generally more popular, is the American IPAs. In this category is my current all time favorite beer: the HopDevil IPA. Brewed in Pennsylvania by the Victory Brewing Company, the HopDevil is, as the name implies, a very hoppy beer. It has a deep reddish appearance and smells overwhelmingly of hops, and I am disheartened to find that I only have one of these treasures left. To make matters worse, I am unable to find HopDevil in the Potsdam area. Perhaps a road trip is in order.

Drinking this beer is like being walloped in the face by a kangaroo. Small at first, but then coating your entire mouth and throat, the hop flavor is the primary and almost exclusionary character in this beer. It sticks to the top and back of your mouth and throat, and has excellent aftertaste. Slightly more refined than the Dogfish Head IPAs, HopDevil remains, in my opinion, the best of the American IPAs.

However, the IPA story gets even better. As if the history of IPAs wasn't exiting enough, moving from India to the UK, where it almost withered away, and then being revived by America, IPAs tooks one more trip across the Pacific Ocean to Belgium.

Belgium itself has a wonderful beer history. In 1919, the Vandervelde Act prohibited spirits from being sold in Belgian pubs. In response, Belgian beer brewing exploded with high-alcohol beers. Although the Vandervelde Act was eliminated in 1983, Belgian beers continue to be generally high in alcohol content, and are often considered some of the best beers in the world.

After seeing the success of American and Double IPAs in the USA, Belgian began brewing their own brand of hoppy beers for the US market. Dubbed Belgian IPAs, they are generally more refined with the high-quality Belgian malts, which adds more complicated alcohol flavors and aromas. I got my hands on some Urthel Hop-It, brewed by De Leyerth Brouwerijen (Urthel) brewers in Belgium. And representative of the Belgian IPA style, this beer has a high ABV of 9.5%, and has a more complicated and malty flavor than American IPAs. You must be careful when you pour any Belgian beer; I wasn't careful and ended up with 2 inches of beer and 3 inches of white frothy head. The head looks and smells wonderful, and seems to stick to the sides of the glass forever. The beer itself is light brown, slightly cloudy and tasting of equal part hops and malt. As with other strong hoppy beers, this beer is another treasure, meant to be enjoyed slowly. An important thing to note is that many of the tastes in beer are masked by ice cold temperatures. With all of these hoppy beers, the hop and alcohol taste becomes more prominent the less frigid it gets.

The Urthel Hop-It is the best of both Belgian and American beers, as usually happens with hybrid efforts. However, considered too hoppy for the hard-core Belgian beer drinkers, Urthel Hop-It is primarily sold in the United States. I hope to get my hands on some more Belgian beers in a few weeks, so we'll explore Belgian beers more thoroughly later.

For next week, I'll be taking a look at German beers and their Reinheitsgebot.