Feb 9, 2017

Marble / Odell / Stone Megawheat Double IPA

Megawheat Double IPA is the first of six collaborations to be released by Stone Brewing in 2017. The culmination of working with Colorado’s Odell Brewing and New Mexico’s Marble Brewery, this big IPA is brewed on a backbone including wheat and oats and a solid blend of hop varieties. Chinook provides the base in terms of the hop flavors as Motueka, Mandarina Bavaria and Mosaic take the lead with a mixture of new and old school traits.

The malt bill, in combination with the Chinook hop backbone provide an old school foundation for a blend of those new school hops to do their thing. Pine, grapefruit, pineapple and peach notes all present themselves in a balanced, collaborative effort. The hop bitterness (60 IBU) rises smoothly, peaking at a moderate level before everything gives way to the lasting and warming (8.4% ABV) finish. The beer simply glides over the tongue with a deceptively easy drinking nature for such a big brew.

Man, if this is how good the rest of the Stone collaborations will taste, it’s going to be one hell of a 2017. Megawheat Double IPA has set the bar fairly high with its clean and balanced blend of old- and new-school hop flavors — a trend I fully embrace — and is going to make it tough for further releases to match or exceed some lofty expectations.

This is a review of a promotional sample.