Susquehanna Brewing Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am
I had never heard of Susquehanna Brewing prior to crossing paths with this bottle of Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am. And that’s not to be unexpected — there are just too many breweries to even fathom trying to keep up with. That said, I’m glad that the label artwork for this big imperial IPA caught my attention as it was a joy to drink, making one hell of an introduction to the Pennsylvania company.
Weighing in at 10.5% ABV (120 IBU), Wham Bam is brewed with orange peel and heavily hopped with pungent combination of Simcoe, Citra, Amarillo, and Cascade hop varieties. As expected the beer delivers on the hop front with tons of orange and citrus, resinous pine, grapefruit and latent herbal notes. And, not only is the flavor big, but everything about this imperial IPA is big from the thick, viscous pour to the slow crawl across the palate and finally to the solid amount of bitterness. A touch of malt sweetness does its best to keep that bite in check, but you’re in hopland now with Wham Bam.
Beer drinkers don’t run across big imperial IPAs like this too often any more. Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am is packed with plenty of hop character (flavor and bitterness), as well as an overall dankness that makes me salivate just thinking about it. I love the fullness once this beer hits your lips — it just adds to the appeal and reminds me of the “extreme” era of imperial IPAs that dominated the market years ago.