Name – Industrial India Pale Ale
Country – United States
Type – American Double IPA

All I’m going to say about sports right now is just this.  At least the Flyers are undefeated.  Now onto beer.

Total Wine has been bringing in a ton of breweries lately for their exclusive brewery directs.  In the past year we’ve seen Flying Fish, Laughing Dog, Clown Shoes and many others hitting the shelves down here.  Well Diamond Knot is another of these and they arrive late last year from Washington state.

When they first arrived my good friend Ed Roberts from Total Wine brought some of their stuff by for a recording of United We Drink (cheap plug).  I remembered liking some of them but haven’t gotten around to giving a proper review for any of them.  Well that all finally changes today as I review their Industrial India Pale Ale.

I popped the cap of the 22 oz bomber and pour it into my nonic pint glass.  It arrives in the glass a clear orange color with an off white head sitting on top.

The nose has something very familiar to it but it takes me a bit to place.  I finally got it, lemongrass.  Yes indeed I get lemongrass in this.  It is backed with some hints of orange and pine as well as a bready malt smell.

The lemongrass is back again in the taste but complimented with a more earthy hop character then what I got in the nose.  The malt back bone has a caramel and bready taste to it that really brings it all together.  And it finishes with a slight bitterness.

I absolutely loved the nose on this one.  Lemongrass is a smell and taste I don’t get much in beers let alone a double IPA.  I’m sort of curious what sort of hops caused this nose and taste.  I don’t think they actually added lemongrass to the beer.  Regardless I enjoyed it.

But overall this is a well balanced double IPA.  It hits you with hops upfront but then settles things back down with it’s malt backing.  I do remember liking this one when Ed brought it by but I absolutely forgot every reason why until having it again.

The lemongrass character in this would make it a great pairing for some spicy Thai food.  That taste will go well along with the hops cutting some of the heat.

Grade – B+