Disclaimer: We will come clean. This article was, unfortunately, written at a time when we were not aware that mats of bubbles are symptoms of a dirty glass. Just because we are Drink Me Dirty, it does not mean it is acceptable to drink from a dirty glass. Clean and rinse your glasswares properly. As better informed drinkers, we now vow to spread the gospel of clean glassware. Read more about this topic here. #DirtyGlassMafia
Name: Patrons Project 13.06 // TankPetrol // Gamma Vortex // Other Half // Equilibrium // DDH TIPA
Brewer: Northern Monk (United Kingdom), Other Half (United States), and Equilibrium (United States)
Style: Mixed-Style Beer (Base Style: Specialty IPA: New England IPA)
ABV: 9.4%
Review Year: 2020
Hop City 2020 may have been canceled, but this massive collaboration beer by Northern Monk, Other Half, and Equilibrium just had to happen no matter what. This is the sixth beer in the Tankpetrol Patrons Series— a “Triple New England IPA” featuring the classic Infinity Vortex hop combination, Citra and Mosaic together with El Dorado, Cashmere, and Strata hops. Wheat malt, flaked oats, super pale barley, and a New England-style ale yeast completed the concoction.
The Patrons Project is an initiative by Northern Monk to foster collaboration, creativity, and community between artists, athletes, and creatives across Northern England through curating beers that represent each chosen patron. The beers from the thirteenth series are tributes to Tankpetrol, a Manchester-based stencil and mural artist originally from Poland. The art of Tankpetrol is noted to embrace the diversity of women characters. His vivid female portraits evoke the emotional complexity of a woman showing fear, anger, nostalgia, or self-confidence.
(Read More: Northern Monk Patrons Project)
STYLE GUIDELINES
This beer is being evaluated as a Mixed-Style Beer (34B) with the Specialty IPA: New England IPA (21B) as the base style in the context of the 2015 Beer Style Guidelines of the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP). The most current version of the guidelines can be found on the BJCP website.
As of this writing, the “Triple IPA” is not an official and explicit style in the BJCP; thus, these beers still lack a comprehensive set of style guidelines. For the hazy and juicy variants, these Triple IPAs could simply be bigger-than-double versions of a New England IPA or Hazy IPA with an ABV of around 10%.
Recommended Readings
Specialty IPA Clarifications and Q&A (BJCP, 2017)
Flavor Fever: Seeing Through the Haze of Double and Triple Juicy IPAs (Craft Beer & Brewing, 2020)
TASTING NOTES
Hazy pale gold to straw color with a white head. On the nose, some of us noted pineapples and hints of alcohol, while the others, a duality of white grapes and marmalade. It is a medium-bodied beer with a moderate level of carbonation. The flavor profile is citrus-driven: lime, unsweetened mango, grapefruit, pineapple with a touch of cantaloupe. Hints of umami and dried grass cut through. Some of us noted dried grass, more of that umami character, and pineapple on the aftertaste, while the others were greeted with light spices, peppers, and cantaloupe.
THE VERDICT
To us, the “Triple IPA” is a beer style that defies the seemingly impossible trinity of highly aromatic, highly drinkable, and high ABV beers. Gamma Vortex is an elusive brew worthy of this label. It is quite a complex beer like the others in the series and, most importantly, Tankpetron’s art. We will let our tasting notes do the talking for this one.
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